THE centrepiece of Friday’s Newmarket card was the Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes, a race which saw the first three home in the Coronation Stakes reoppose each other and Lady Bowthorpe represent the older fillies/mares, while the presence of runaway York winner Primo Bacio added further spice.
The events that played out on track were both scintillating and intriguing as Snow Lantern (115) reversed the Ascot form with Alcohol Free.
In an honest interview following the race, Oisín Murphy said he would have preferred a lead on Alcohol Free (113), but once his filly had found the far rail their fate was to lead.
Natural enthusiasm
After a relatively slow opening furlong, the natural enthusiasm that the daughter of No Nay Never possesses saw her take the field a long at a good pace, averaging 11.31 seconds a furlong which was faster than the average (11.68 seconds) she posted for the closing three furlongs, evidence she had not quite lasted home.
The other influence of the opening furlong was that Primo Bacio (112+), Lady Bowthorpe (113+) and to a lesser extent Snow Lantern were caught behind runners as the field merged into a single group.
Snow Lantern, unlike on her previous two runs, travelled strongly without running away with Sean Levey so it may have been an advantage to be settled back in the field.
The energy conserved by Ricard Hannon’s filly allowed her to deliver a knockout finishing effort that began with a 10.98 sixth furlong that enabled her to secure a position to challenge before sustaining her to cover the final three furlongs in 34.33 seconds and sweep past the fading Alcohol Free (35.06) and Mother Earth (113; 34.69) in the shadows of the post.
Lady Bowthorpe explored more of the July Course than her rivals before mounting a challenge that was eventually made as many as 11 horse widths off the rail having raced in close proximity to it in the formative stages.
At the same time as the winner was dipping under
11 seconds, the William Jarvis-trained filly (10.96 seconds) replicated the fractions as she got clear to post a finishing sectional of 34.25 seconds, which was faster than Snow Lantern.
Primo Bacio is another to take out of the race given she too showcased her ability to change gear, proof of which came with a single sixth-furlong sectional of 10.85 seconds, quicker than both the winner and Lady Bowthorpe. The daughter of Awtaad ran the final three furlongs in 34.23 seconds confirming she is still a filly of huge potential.
What is certain is that they are a quintuple of exceptional fillies, predicting in which order they will finish if meeting again in the future is the uncertainty.
The run of Ivan Futardo’s Just Beautiful (110; 35.23s) should also be respected with a view to her dropping slightly in grade. This performance was a giant step up on her win in a listed contest at Musselburgh as the daughter of Pride Of Dubai kept going well after attempting to mix it with the trail-blazing Alcohol Free.
Super Sandrine
Staying with the fillies and Sandrine (109) made it three from three when showcasing how versatile she is ground-wise by adding to her heavy-ground Ascot success with a performance that was all about speed on fast ground.
The margin of superiority over Hello You (105) was increased slightly as Andrew Balding’s filly covered the final three furlongs in 33.50 seconds.
The performance of Desert Dreamer (106) can be upgraded slightly but her closing sectional (33.70 seconds) was marginally slower than the winner so even if the daughter of Oasis Dream had navigated a smoother passage, it is unlikely that she would have troubled the winner.