Interesting racing overnight in the UK with a massive upset in the Group I Falmouth Stakes and new Group winners for Australian bred sires Starspangledbanner and Exceed and Excel.
The Group I Falmouth Stakes (1m) at Newmarket or fillies and mares attracted just five runners with champion Frankel filly Inspiral supposedly scaring away any meaningful opposition, but the long odds on favourite performed at a level well short of her best and could only finish second.
Zoffany filly Prosperous Voyage, who was unplaced behind her at Royal Ascot in the Group I Coronation Stakes, claimed the victory scoring by a length and three-quarters.
Trained by Ralph Beckett and ridden by Rob Hornby, Prosperous Voyage was Group I placed last year at two and was also second in the Group I Newmarket Thousand Guineas to Cachet, but this was her first Black Type win and she certainly made it a good one!
“I think the key to her really is a straight track,” said Ralph Beckett.
“Around a bend she scraped home in her maiden at Epsom, but then she got beat at Chester, but when she has run on a straight track she has run her race and today she did. Maybe Inspiral didn't turn up today, maybe she bounced, but this filly ran her race and that is all that really matters if you are me.”
Bought for 65,000 pounds from the Goffs Orby Sale by Badgers Bloodstock, Prosperous Voyage was bred by Lynch Bages & Camas Park Stud and is the best of four winners from Seatone, a Juddmonte Farms bred Mizzen Mast mare.
Seatone is a half-sister to Group I winner Senure and to the dam of Group II winner Permit, who is by Dansili, the sire of Prosperous Voyage’s sire Zoffany.
Prosperous Voyage is the 50th stakes-winner for ill-fated Zoffany and is his fifth Group I winner.
The Group II Duchess of Cambridge Stakes (6f) at Newmarket for two year-old fillies produced a good battle between Exceed and Excel filly Mawj, who scored a half length win over the previously unbeaten Zoustar filly Lezoo.
A Godolphin homebred trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Mawj has two wins and a second from three starts and is the 198th stakes-winner for champion sire Exceed and Excel, who is getting very close to his double century.
She is a half-sister to dual Group I winner Modern Games, winner of this year's French 2000 Guineas, and stakes-winner Modern News being the third stakes-winner for well bred New Approach mare Modern Ideals, a half-sister to Group I winner Ultra.
The Group III Summer Stakes (6f) at York produced a valuable win for three year-old Starspangedbanner filly Flotus, who was bought for 1million guineas by Katsumi Yoshida at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale last year after finishing second in the Group I Cheveley Park Stakes at two.
Trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, Flotus was a last start third in the Group I Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and franked that form when powering clear of older sprinters in this assignment to win by a length and three-quarters.
A Listed winner previously, Flotus has three wins and three placings from 10 starts and holds entries for some of the upcoming Group I sprints.
She is the best of three winners from Floriade, a winning Invincible Spirit mare from the family of US stakes-winners Tamweel and Ghost is Clear.
