Aidan O’Brien is hoping Lake Victoria can get him back to winning ways in the Group One Irish 1,000 Guineas (1,600m) at the Curragh on Sunday.

The Ballydoyle trainer has won the first Irish Classic of the campaign a record 10 times, but has been winless since Empress Josephine triumphed in the 2021 running.

O’Brien relies on Lake Victoria to be the next superstar filly off the Coolmore conveyor belt and his daughter of Frankel looked the part with an unbeaten juvenile campaign that featured a trio of top level successes.

Winning the Group One Moyglare Stakes (1,400m), the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes (1,200m) and the Group One Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf (1,600m) marked her out as something special, but she flopped on return in the Group One 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket (1,600m) three weeks ago.

She ran well below market expectations in fifth that day, but O’Brien’s horses tend to improve for their reappearance and it is not easy to forget her exploits in 2024.

To win, however, she will need to reverse form with the Ollie Sangster-trained pair of Flight and Simmering, who finished second and third respectively in the 1,000 Guineas.

Sangster is in just his third year of training and is yet to break down the Group One door, but his improving Flight has put him firmly in the shop window. She went agonisingly close at Newmarket alongside Simmering, who defied huge odds to snatch a place despite falling out of the stalls.

Another fly in the ointment could be Dermot Weld’s Juddmonte filly Swelter, who stepped forward from a debut win to land the Group Three Ballylinch Stud Priory Belle Stakes (1,400m) at Leopardstown in March.

That form was empathically franked by the second-place horse Exactly, who ran an enormous race to finish third in the Group One Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (1,600m) at Longchamp and she is one of the least exposed horses in the field.

Exactly reopposes her and forms a four-strong squad for O’Brien, with Bedtime Story and January also heading to the Curragh.