IT was some finish to the Group 2 Debutante Stakes at the Curragh on Friday evening, with Alpine Star just getting the better of the bob with Petite Mustique. Soul Search was not far behind them and So Wonderful ran on well to take fourth place. This is a race from which the protagonists could have a significant influence on future happenings.

Alpine Star had a tall reputation before she ever set foot on a racecourse, which was not altogether surprising, given that Jessica Harrington’s filly is a half-sister to Alpha Centauri. She still has a long way to go to reach those highs. Victory in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes, on just her third run, to add to her impressive maiden victory. She is going about things the right way.

Talking about reputations, Petite Mustique won the fillies’ maiden at Galway that Hermosa, Legitissimo, Tarfasha, Eziyra and Dance Design won, the one in which Tarnawa and Hydrangea and Together Forever were beaten. Again, big shoes to fill, but Aidan O’Brien’s filly’s run on Friday was a significant step in the right direction.

As it was for third-placed Soul Search, who finished a close-up third in the Anglesey Stakes on her previous run and fourth-placed So Wonderful, who put up another career-best, and is shaped as if she might to even better over an extra furlong. There is solidity to the form, with Silver Flash Stakes winner Love finishing fifth, and a winning time that was almost a second faster than the time that Armory clocked in winning the Group 2 Futurity Stakes a half an hour later over the same course and distance.