By Tom Frary
Taking another step forward from her G2 May Hill Stakes success, Godolphin's Desert Flower (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}–Promising Run, by Hard Spun) emphatically established herself at the head of the pecking order among the stronger-staying juvenile fillies of 2024 in Friday's G1 Fillies' Mile at Newmarket. Having mastered Ballydoyle's January (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) by 1 1/2 lengths at Doncaster last month, the Charlie Appleby-trained TDN Rising Star made it 5 1/2 this time as she opened up with the rising ground to the line bringing out her superior stamina.
Settled behind Aidan O'Brien's other runners Dreamy (Ire) (American Pharoah) and Ballet Slippers (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) by William Buick, the 10-11 favourite looked second choice to come up with the goods moving to two out as Ryan Moore sat pretty on January. Drawing alongside to take control soon after, it was quickly evident that Desert Flower had what it takes and her final-furlong tour de force saw to it that she boasts the widest winning margin in this race since it was switched to Newmarket. January paid the price for putting it up to the winner, finishing tired a half-length ahead of Ballet Slippers.
“I'm not usually right, but I did say to William beforehand that the way she conducts herself in the mornings, don't be surprised if she gets lost in that dip and that was the way it played out,” Appleby said of the impressive winner, who will be up against another Rosegreen obstacle in Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) back over this course and distance next May. “She's still very raw, but once she hit the rising ground he struggled to pull her up. She was a bit of a handful at Doncaster and challenged herself that day, but I was happy with the way she paraded today and hopefully she'll be a more mature filly in the spring.”
“She is scopey, but won't take much to get fit then–she hasn't put a kilo on since midsummer–so I don't see any reason why she can't go straight to the Guineas,” he added. “We'll see what she does in the winter, but she's kept pleasing us all the way. She's not an exciting filly in the morning, but it's the way she does stuff and the way she pulls up that gives you encouragement. Could she stretch out to 10 furlongs? Possibly. She's a nice horse to go into winter with and we will be back in the spring.”
Aidan O'Brien said of his trio, “I'm delighted and they all ran great races really. They ran as we thought they might and ran nice races. They are three to look forward to next year and they are all Classic-type fillies.”
A in the making
The unbeaten bolts up in the @bet365 Fillies' Mile.@godolphin | @WilliamBuickX pic.twitter.com/JY2w0ZGtIG
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 11, 2024
Pedigree Notes
Desert Flower's dam Promising Run captured four group 2 contests, with this track's Rockfel as a juvenile preceding her others in the Al Rashidiya, Cape Verdi and Balanchine. Also responsible for the G3 Solario Stakes winner Aablan (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), she is a half-sister to the G3 Lillie Langtry Stakes runner-up Arabian Comet (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) out of the Brazilian group 1 winner Aviacion (Brz) (Know Heights {Ire}). Descendants of the third dam Arbulus (Liloy {Fr}) include the elite-level performers Eddington (Arg) (Contested Bid), Panama (Brz) (Signal Tap) and Persane (Tampero {Fr}).
Friday, Newmarket, Britain
BET365 FILLIES' MILE-G1, £500,000, Newmarket, 10-11, 2yo, f, 8fT, 1:37.48, g/s.
1–DESERT FLOWER (IRE), 128, f, 2, by Night Of Thunder (Ire)
1st Dam: Promising Run (GSW-Eng, MGSW-UAE, GSW-Tur, $933,721), by Hard Spun
2nd Dam: Aviacion (Brz), by Know Heights (Ire)
3rd Dam: Arbulus, by Liloy (Fr)
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. TDN Rising Star. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. £283,550. Lifetime Record: 4-4-0-0, $469,753. *1/2 to Aablan (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), GSW-Eng. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–January (Ire), 128, f, 2, Kingman (GB)–I Can Fly (GB), by Fastnet Rock (Aus).
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. £107,500.
3–Ballet Slippers (Ire), 128, f, 2, Dubawi (Ire)–Magical (Ire), by Galileo (Ire).
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Mr M Tabor, D Smith & Mrs John Magnier; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. £53,800.
Margins: 5HF, HF, 8. Odds: 0.91, 3.50, 14.00.
Also Ran: Dreamy (Ire), Tabiti (GB), Anna Swan (GB), California Dreamer (GB).
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