By Tom Frary
Carrying a large weight of expectation along with TDN Rising Star status into Saturday's Turners EBF Fillies' Novice Stakes at Newmarket, Godolphin's Desert Flower (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}–Promising Run, by Hard Spun) made what looked an easy assignment an extremely facile one to fully justify odds of 1-4. Always travelling smoothly for Billy Loughnane, the Charlie Appleby-trained daughter of the operation's five-time group 2 winner took control approaching two out, surged clear down the dip and tanked to the line for a 6 1/2-length success from Dash Of Azure (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}).
The winner is the second of two current foals out of the accomplished dam, whose career tally included wins in the G2 Rockfel Stakes, G2 Al Rashidiya, G2 Cape Verdi, G2 Balanchine and G3 International Istanbul Trophy. Her first was last year's G3 Solario Stakes winner Aablan (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Promising Run is a half-sister to the G3 Lillie Langtry Stakes runner-up Arabian Comet (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), with their dam being the Brazilian group 1 heroine Aviacion (Brz) (Know Heights {Ire}) from the family of the top-level performers Eddington (Arg) (Contested Bid), Panama (Brz) (Signal Tap) and Persane (Tampero {Fr}).
3rd-Newmarket, £8,500, Novice, 8-3, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:25.82, g/f.
DESERT FLOWER (IRE) (f, 2, Night Of Thunder {Ire}–Promising Run {GSW-Eng, MGSW-UAE, GSW-Tur, $933,721}, by Hard Spun) Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $19,472. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby.
CLASSY
confirms the promise of her debut with a stylish success under a penalty at HQ.
A 2025 1,000 Guineas candidate?@godolphin | @loughnane_billy pic.twitter.com/SGFvuIdDRd
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 3, 2024
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