Barshiba claimed a tenacious second victory in the Bet365 Lancashire Oaks at Haydock under Hayley Turner.
Mare battles hard to clinch second Lancashire win
Barshiba (7-2) claimed a tenacious second victory in the Bet365 Lancashire Oaks at Haydock under Hayley Turner.
The one-eyed chestnut made all the running but was attacked on all sides inside the final two-furlongs, with Lady Jane Digby, Grace O'Malley and Polly's Mark chief amongst them.
The six-year-old, a winner of the Group Two event 12 months ago, kept pulling out more though and she pulled away again at the furlong pole.
Polly's Mark (3-1f) threw down a late challenge under Richard Hughes but despite being slightly hampered late on, was never going to get to the winner, who had threequarters of a length to spare.
"She's so tough it's unreal," said Turner. "She just finds form at this time of year and she won it very easily last year as well.
"Despite being blind in the eye that they were challenging on, she knew they were there and she just kept finding for me, she made it a real test."
Dangerous Midge (17-2) ran out an impressive eight-length winner of the Bet365 Old Newton Cup.
Martin Dwyer produced Brian Meehan's four-year-old with a perfectly-timed challenge to take over from pace-setter Almiqdaad over a furlong out.
And the colt went further and further clear on the run to the line, with Demolition (16-1) running on for second and Fiery Lad (16-1) ini third.
"He's a good horse, he's improving and there's not many miles on the clock," said the winning jockey.
"He tends to race lazily and we worked him in blinkers to wake him up a bit. I gave him a forceful ride today and he felt good."
