The Group 1 Tattersalls Sceptre Sessions Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday is shaping as a showdown between three of the season’s best two-year-old fillies.
Senorita Bonita, Sun Goddess and Libertango are among eight fillies confirmed for the £275,000 race. Their form is closely linked, but each has added a significant victory since they last met.
Senorita Bonita has won three of four starts for Simon and Ed Crisford. After finishing behind Victorious in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, she beat Libertango in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes on Newmarket’s July Course. She then defeated the colts in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville.
Sun Goddess was beaten by Libertango in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot but has won her four subsequent races for Aidan O’Brien. Her rise includes Group 1 victories in the Phoenix Stakes and Moyglare Stud Stakes, as well as a runaway success in a valuable sales race at York.
Libertango arrives with unfinished business against both rivals. George Boughey’s filly beat Sun Goddess in the Albany before finding Senorita Bonita too strong at Newmarket. She returned to winning form in the Lowther Stakes at York and now seeks her first Group 1 victory.
Joseph O’Brien could have two runners capable of troubling the leading trio. Star Of State was second to Libertango in the Lowther before winning a valuable prize over Irish Champions Weekend, while Alwaysanangel finished third in the Duchess of Cambridge and has since won at Listed level. Snowing, Moonrise and Controlla complete the field at the confirmation stage.
Run over six furlongs down Newmarket’s Rowley Mile straight, the Cheveley Park Stakes has been part of the racing calendar since 1899, when Lutetia won its first running. It is restricted to two-year-old fillies and shares the final day of the Cambridgeshire meeting with the Middle Park Stakes, the Group 1 sprint for juvenile colts. The race takes its name from the nearby Cheveley Park estate, home to the renowned stud.
Its roll of honour shows how much a victory here can mean beyond a filly’s first season. Pretty Polly won in 1903 before becoming one of racing’s great champions. Special Duty went on to win both the English and French 1000 Guineas, while Alcohol Free followed her 2020 Cheveley Park victory with success in the Coronation Stakes.
More recently, Lake Victoria added the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Irish 1000 Guineas to a career that included her 2024 Newmarket win. Last year’s winner, True Love, beat Havana Anna and Royal Fixation before returning to the Rowley Mile to win the 2026 1000 Guineas.
Aidan O’Brien has trained a record six Cheveley Park winners, all within the last ten editions. Sun Goddess can give him a seventh on Saturday, though Senorita Bonita and Libertango bring strong claims of their own. Their earlier meetings have produced two different winners; Newmarket now offers the chance for one filly to take command of the division.
By Scott Bailey
