Newmarket Friday

Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes (Group 1)

IN 2013, there was controversy in the Falmouth Stakes when Richard Hannon’s Sky Lantern was carried across the track by Elusive Kate and beaten in a photo finish, only for the stewards to allow the result to stand.

Connections of the runner-up felt wronged enough to appeal that decision, but got no joy. That has rankled with Hannon since, but he gained the ultimate in revenge when Sky Lantern’s daughter Snow Lantern lit up Newmarket with a sparkling display under Sean Levey in what was arguably the strongest ever running of the Falmouth.

The pace in the 13-runner field came from Coronation Stakes heroine Alcohol Free (Andrew Balding/Oisin Murphy), pressed by Fillies’ Mile winner Pretty Gorgeous and Guineas winner Mother Earth (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore), that pair keen to ensure Murphy could not dictate the fractions he wanted.

With such a high-class trio pressing on, the stage was set an early stage for a thrilling contest, and the fact that all the jockeys wanted to be on the far side meant that those held up would not have a simple task of getting through, even if the pace was overly strong.

Sean Levey, drawn nearest the far rail, quickly got Snow Lantern – racing like her dam in the dark blue and white silks of the Rockcliffe Stud – into a good position behind the leaders, and that enabled her to get first run on Primo Bacio, who had beaten her at York.

Produced to get after the leading trio (who had been joined by outsider Just Beautiful) with a furlong and a half to run, Snow Lantern found a smart turn of foot to tackle Mother Earth the instant she had begun to get the better of her own battle with Alcohol Free, while Lady Bowthorpe and Primo Bacio, who both had to switch wide on the track after meeting traffic, were bearing down fast from further back.

Pulsating

The last 100 yards were absolutely pulsating, with Snow Lantern prevailing by half a length from Mother Earth, who in turn was a neck ahead of Alcohol Free.

Before heading to Newmarket, Hannon made it clear that there was a score to settle, and that the daughter of Frankel was there to put previous wrongs to right: “We were disappointed on the day with Sky Lantern. I thought we should have been given the race, but we weren’t, but we then beat Elusive Kate later in the season in the Sun Chariot Stakes.

“Snow Lantern hasn’t won a 1000 Guineas like her mum, but she is going there hopefully to win where her mother didn’t but should have, and it would be nice if she did just that.”

It would be folly to suggest that Snow Lantern is simply a proxy for her wronged mother, and she is clearly a top-notch performer in her own right.

Unraced as a juvenile, Hannon resisted the temptation to follow tradition by running her in the Guineas, and although she was no match for Primo Bacio at York, she improved to finish an honourable second to Alcohol Free at Royal Ascot.

She gained revenge of her own on the pair who had beaten her on her last two starts by winning this contest.

Emotional

After this win, Hannon was unsurprisingly emotional, and after mentioning a score being settled, and declaring himself delighted with the win, summoned bloodstock agent and friend Ed Sackville to conclude his interview with ITV’s Sally-Anne Grassick lest the occasion get the better of him.

His star filly is entered in the Nassau Stakes and in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, and while Hannon will no doubt have a headache on Saturday, he’ll have another picking out her next target.

Neither Mother Earth nor Alcohol Free need any excuses for defeat in a race run in a rapid 1m 35.93secs, while Lady Bowthorpe and Primo Bacio can be counted as unlucky given they had to pick their way through a crowded field, and were going on strongly at the finish.

Any rematch among that group of five would be a race to savour, and it’s wonderful to see the Falmouth live up to – and beyond – its star billing.