Betfred Middleton Stakes |
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| Group 2, York 14:40 £120,000 added, Fillies, 4yo plus, 1m 2f 88y, Class 1  |
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| Thursday 12th May 2016 | |
1 Beautiful Romance 5/1
2 Koora 8/1
3 Journey 5/4F
NR: Namhroodah (IRE)
7 ran Distances: 1¼l, nk, ½l
TIME 2m 8.85s (slow by 1.65s)
Beautiful Romance stayed on strongest of all to land the Middleton Stakes at York for Godolphin
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The daughter of New Approach looked an unlikely winner a furlong from home but ultimately ran out a relatively cosy winner from Koora and Journey.
The latter, sent off the 5/4 favourite, had tracked the front-running Ballybacka Queen throughout but both looked in trouble when Lady Of Dubai eased to the front on their outside passing the two furlong marker.
However, having looked all over the winner, she ran out of petrol very quickly inside the distance and finished a well beaten fifth.
That opened the door again for Journey but she had Beautiful Romance bearing down strongly on her outside and Saeed bin Suroor's filly proved the stronger, coming home a length and a quarter clear of Koora who made late gains.
"We all think she's a proper Group One filly and the options now are the Hardwicke Stakes or the Prince of Wales's Stakes, for which she would need to be supplemented," said Godolphin boss John Ferguson.
"The other option is the Coronation Cup and a mile and a half is no problem at all for her, so it gives us options. She's done well today because we were a little bit concerned about the ground, but she is a professional and she has benefited from the time she was given by Saeed and his team as a three-year-old."
Betfred Middleton Stakes (Fillies' Group 2)
£120,000 added, 4yo plus, 1m 2f 88y, Class 1
7 ran
Going: Good to Firm, Good in places
| Pos | Dr | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | (4) | Beautiful Romance 5/1 | James Doyle 9-0 |
S bin Suroor | 4 | |
| 2nd | (5) | 1¼ | Koora 8/1 | J P Spencer 9-0 |
L M Cumani | 4 |
| 3rd | (8) | nk | Journey 5/4f | L Dettori 9-0 |
J H M Gosden | 4 |
| 4th | (3) | ½ | Speedy Boarding 8/1 | F Tylicki 9-0 |
J R Fanshawe | 4 |
| 5th | (7) | 8 | Lady Of Dubai 9/2 | Andrea Atzeni 9-0 |
R Varian | 4 |
| 6th | (1) | 2¼ | Ballybacka Queen (IRE) 33/1 | K J Manning 9-0 |
P A Fahy | 5 |
| 7th | (6) | 12 | Crystal Zvezda 10/1 | R L Moore 9-0 |
Sir Michael Stoute | 4 |
| NR | (2) | Namhroodah (IRE) 25/1 | Non Runner 9-0 |
J Tate | 4 |
