Livenka makes class count to land valuable Naas prize

Ger Lyons will consider a trip to York later this month with Livenka after she proved a class apart from her rivals in the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes at Naas.

The daughter of Bated Breath had finished third behind a couple of particularly smart Ballydoyle fillies in Victorious and Alpha on her first two starts, so it was no surprise to see her make it third time lucky at Fairyhouse in early July, beating a subsequent runaway winner in Joseph O’Brien’s Star Of State.

She was all the rage as the 4-6 favourite for a €200,000 contest Lyons and jockey Colin Keane won with Sacred Bridge in 2021 and Howd’yadoit 12 months ago, and odds-on backers will have had few concerns, with Livenka always to the fore on the far side of the track and quickening up smartly to pull three and a half lengths clear of 100-1 newcomer Maeda Matsu.

The winner is from a Juddmonte family Lyons knows well, being a half-sister to Group One-winning filly Babouche and the high-class Zarinsk, both of whom were trained out of his County Meath yard.

“I’ve always liked her. It’s a nice pot to win with her en route to where we hope to be going, which is black type,” he said.

“I put her in the Lowther (at York) this morning at the second entry stage. If she’s alive and kicking that’s a lovely option.

“You don’t know what she’s beaten, obviously, but you do know what she beat in Fairyhouse, that’s the plus because she (Star Of State) demolished the Leopardstown horses. Regardless of what she beat, she’s a filly that I like.

“I made a mistake going seven furlongs with her a couple of starts back and this is where she needs to be, at this (six-furlong) trip.

“We’ll concentrate on this trip for the rest of the year and she’s a top of the ground horse, which is typical of Bated Breath.”