FIFTY Stars is edging ever closer to a Group 1 challenge. Last weekend the four-year-old son of Gilltown Stud’s Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) added a victory in the Group 2 Blamey Stakes to a win in the Group 3 Araza Sandown Stakes. Stepping up to a mile appears to suit him and his breeders Sonia and Anthony Rogers at Airlie Stud will be wrapping his yearling full-brother in cotton wool.

Should Fifty Stars win a Group 1 he would become the second ‘top-tier’ winner for his unraced Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer) dam Swizzle Stick. The other is Whiskey Sour (Jeremy) and he progressed from winning four times on the flat to landing the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.