Racing: Virginia Waters put a perfect classic seal on the new partnership of Aidan O'Brien and Kieren Fallon when completing a magnificent Guineas double at Newmarket yesterday.
The filly landed the UltimatePoker.com 1,000 Guineas at odds of 12 to 1 from the favourite, Maids Causeway, who was two and a half lengths adrift at the line. Vista Belle was a further half length back in third.
It completed a huge weekend for Fallon and O'Brien who also came out on top in Saturday's colts classic, the 2,000 Guineas, with Footstepsinthesand. It's the first time in 38 years that the same trainer-jockey combination has done the double and the first time since 1942 that the same owners, John Magnier and Michael Tabor, have also shared in that success.
Virginia Waters is only the sixth Irish-trained horse to win the race and while Fallon, who replaced Jamie Spencer as the number one rider at Ballydoyle earlier this year, was collecting a fourth 1,000, it was a first win in the race for O'Brien. It means that the trainer has now won all five of the English classics at least once.
"I don't think I've ever travelled so well in a classic before," said Fallon, the six-time champion jockey in Britain, afterwards. "The way she picked up was amazing."
