Frankel Filly Earns Herself a Step up to Group 1 Level
Eternal Pearl set herself up for a deserved first tilt at Group One level after extending her winning to four races when demonstrating that stamina is very much her forte when staying on best of them all in the Princess Royal Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Stakes.
The Frankel filly has not looked back since opening her account at Kempton Park in June after adding a second Group Three to her name having scored at the same level in Deauville last month in the Prix Minerve.
Victory looked to be heading the way of the Roger Varian-trained Peripatetic, who appeared to slip the field under Ryan Moore entering the closing stages of the mile and half prize.
Despite looking to still have plenty of work to do the 6-4 Favourite started to eat up the ground inside the final furlong before forging past Peripatetic inside the final 100 yards and prevailing by three-quarters of a length.
Following the race, Eternal Pearl was trimmed from 10-1 into 8-1 by Paddy Power for the Group One QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot on October 15th which Appleby confirmed would be her next target.
Appleby said: “She is a lovely big scopey filly by Frankel and they stay for fun. The one thing she has needed to do is develop to allow her to be strong enough to stay the way she is doing now.
“She is not the quickest from the gates and she has to warm into the race. At halfway I thought William is going to have to find some gaps from where he was as they are all nice fillies and they were traveling away and quickening at the same time.
“One thing she does is stay well as we saw once she hit the rising ground and hit top gear. She is not a slogger, she quickens and you could visibly see that once she hit the rising ground.
“She is doing it all the right way round. It has always been my plan to come here as we missed the Vermeille to get some more confidence and experience behind her to look at the Fillies and Mares.”
While a trip to Ascot next month now beckons for Eternal Pearl the Godolphin handler confirmed that she will stay in training at four.
He added: “She will stay in training next year. To be fair to William he mentioned when she broke her maiden it is all next year with this filly.
“That is why I’ve not gone to the sword at Group One level with her.”
Following the race, winning rider William Buick was confident Eternal Pearl would be able to step up to Group One level.
Buick added: “She just warms into her races and showed a good turn of foot there. She has got a great attitude and that is another step up from what she has done. She is progressing the whole time.
“I absolutely think she can step up again. I am not sure what the plan is but the Fillies and Mares on Champions Day would be considered over a mile and a half I would think. She wouldn’t want extremes of ground but she seems to handle a bit of cut.”
By Graham Clark – The Jockey Club Press Release
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