Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Pearl has been found perfect opportunity
FILLY CAN BE A REAL GEM FOR ASTUTE OXX
THE once-raced Famous Pearl should be tough to beat in the Where Champions Are Made Fillies Maiden at the Curragh tomorrow.
John Oxx’s filly, a chestnut daughter of Way Of Light, made her belated debut at Cork in mid-april, ran a race full of promise but hasn’t been seen since.
Ridden then, as she will be tomorrow, by Declan Mcdonogh, Famous Pearl shaped like a certain future winner in finishing less than three lengths third behind a couple of smart colts, Gold Spinner and Born To Play.
Gold Spinner went on to score again in Navan and reached what is probably a flattering mark of 99 while Born To Play finished second to Homesman in the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh and was subsequently sold for a whopping £500,000 at the Goffs London Sale.
It’s a concern that Famous Pearl has been off the track for three months since that hugely promising debut effort. But, in the belief that ever-astute Oxx, right, decided to give her more time to mature and develop, she should take plenty of beating in tomorrow’s contest, in which Willie Mccreery’s and the Dermot Weld-trained debutante might fill the places.
Like Famous Pearl, the Jim Bolger-trained
will be racing against her own sex for the first time in the opening two-year-old fillies maiden and sets a decent standard on form.
This Dawn Approach filly was pipped by Legal Steps on her debut at Leopardstown in June before chasing home US Navy Flag in a maiden over this course and distance on Derby weekend.
That form received a boost when the winner ran second in the July Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday, stressing the merit of the Bolger filly’s Curragh effort. And, unless there’s a smart newcomer in the field, the Godolphin-owned filly should take plenty of beating – Aidan O’brien’s debutante a full-sister to Rhododendron is worthy of special note.