Little Kim delivers triumph for Burke at Deauville

KARL BURKE celebrated another significant success in France when Little Kim bounced back to winning ways with victory in the in the Prix du Bois at Deauville.

Having claimed this year’s Prix Saint Alary and Prix de Diane with stable star Laurens, the Leyburn trainer struck again, this time at Group Three level with the two-year-old daughter of Garswood

Responding well to pressure, the 6-1 shot, who finished eighth in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, gathered plenty of late momentum under Ben Curtis to defeat the Wesley Ward-trained Chelsea Cloisters by a length in the fivefurlong affair.

Burke said: “I think she is a genuine Group Three filly. We will take it one step at a time with her.”

Meanwhile Oisin Murphy is keeping his fingers crossed Roaring Lion can provide him with a first Group One success in Britain in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse.

The leading rider has enjoyed top-level victories in France, Canada and Dubai in the last 12 months, but is still searching for a top level triumph on British soil.

The John Gosden-trained Dante hero Roaring Lion is a major contender for this weekend’s Sandown feature, but has ground to make up on Masar having finished behind him in the Craven Stakes, the 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby.

Murphy also sees Aidan O’Brien’s dual Group One-winning filly Happily as a threat.

“The weight-for-age is huge and obviously Happily would get the sex allowance on top of that,” he said. “It’s exciting. I’m very fortunate to partner horses like Roaring Lion and I want to make the most of it. Sheikh Fahad is one of the biggest owners in the world, he deserves success like this and I want to give it to him.”