There was a surprise of grand proportions in store in Friday's G1 Tattersalls Falmouth S. at Newmarket, as Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen's Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) ruthlessly dragged Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) into the red to strip the July Festival's “good thing” of her unbeaten record. Bridesmaid to the Gosdens' luminary in the G2 May Hill S. and G1 Fillies' Mile at two, the resilient Ralph Beckett-trained bay who had been runner-up again in the 1000 Guineas was asked to go deep by Rob Hornby from the outset and responded with pressurising sectionals. Heading to two out, the damage had already been inflicted and while soon after the 1-7 favourite and Sandrine (GB) (Kitten's Joy) loomed, the 16-1 shot had most to give up the deciding incline. Inspiral had been at work for some time, but managed to stave off the challenge of Sandrine to at least obtain the first silver medal of her career, 1 3/4 lengths down on the impressive winner. Sandrine, who also had to run hard to enter the fray, paid for that late to drop away and finish a length further behind. “It is a horse race and anything can happen,” Beckett said of the winner, who had flopped as Inspiral shone when down the field in the G1 Coronation S. “Maybe Inspiral didn't turn up today, maybe she did bounce–there are lots of maybes, but this filly ran her race and that's all that really matters to me.”
Prosperous Voyage's progress throughout her juvenile campaign had assumed more the pace of a pleasure cruise than a high-speed ferry, with a narrow maiden win at Epsom followed by a second in a Chester novice and a third in the seven-furlong G3 Prestige S. at Goodwood in August. Picked off by Inspiral and beaten 3 3/4 lengths when upped to a mile and allowed to bowl along in the May Hill at Doncaster's St Leger meeting, she had narrowed that deficit to 2 1/2 lengths in the Fillies' Mile on the Rowley Mile here in October, but the overwhelming impression was that she would remain in her contemporary's shadow for some time.
Back over the course and distance of the Fillies' Mile in the May 1 1000 Guineas which was as much about those absent than it was those present, Prosperous Voyage ran a race well up to her 2-year-old form and had she been set the kind of examination she was on this sun-baked afternoon she would have caught Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}). As it was, she was a fast-vanishing neck margin away at the line before blowing out in the Coronation, where she faded uncharacteristically tamely from early straight and wound up nine-lengths 10th.
This upset came down to a filly that operated with deadly efficiency on ground as fast as it gets on the July Course in the modern age, versus one that was compromised by having such a tough assignment so soon after a dynamic effort at Royal Ascot. Time will tell whether Inspiral can get back on top in a rivalry that up until Friday afternoon had seemed anything but, with this gruelling task her first true experience of what it feels like to go deep into her reserves. Hornby put Prosperous Voyage on the limit of what she was capable of and her furlong-by-furlong fractions made it a race of truth which exposed a crack–temporary or otherwise–in the formidable armour of the favourite.
For Beckett, the key to the winner is a straight track. “She scraped home at Epsom, got beat at Chester and didn't act in the Coronation Stakes because she's not as effective around a bend–we know that now,” he explained. “When she's run on a straight track, she's run her race and this race was right for the horse. You will remember she was supposed run in the Saint-Alary, but the traffic was backed up so I decided not to send her and that probably counted today. Rob gave her a lovely ride–he did it in France last year on Scope and we don't lack faith in our rider. He never panics when he is challenged–he sits still and he suits this filly. He sat still on her and she came good underneath him. The Sun Chariot is the obvious race for her and we'll keep bringing her back to Newmarket.”
Hornby, who like Dettori has been in the news of late not only for his considerable riding talent, was happy to focus on his achievement on Friday. “She has a great character and a lot of personality,” he said of the winner. “She run such a heroic race in the Guineas and is a strong stayer who enjoys bowling away in front. Coming inside the three they came to challenge me, but she is so brave and gives her it all, all of the time. She hit the rising ground and stayed strongly. Today it was a matter of keeping the revs up and keep it smooth and flowing like the Guineas.”
“Days like this make everything worthwhile,” he added. “Nothing has ever happened for me straight away. I just plugged away through my apprenticeship through great guidance from Mr. Balding and the academy there, which stood me in good stead for the highs and lows that were to come for the rest of your career. It was terribly sad that we lost Scope after the yard had such a tremendous weekend and I was thinking it can't get any worse, but this is a crazy sport we play and hugely exciting.”
John Gosden was inclined to believe that Inspiral's reversal was down to backing up too fast from the Royal meeting. “You don't normally come here after a big win at Ascot, but she hadn't run all year so we did and I just thought she ran a little flat,” he said. “The ground has quickened up, but I think it's more the turnaround. You could tell early on that she was a little bit flat, so we'll freshen her up and away we go again. She seems happy enough.”
Cheveley Park Stud's Managing Director Chris Richardson commented, “Frankie basically felt that it probably came a bit quick after such a stunning performance at the Royal meeting and perhaps the ground was a little too quick for her, so it was a combination of the two. She's run a great race, so we'll give her a nice five or six-week break and freshen her up and see how we get on. To be fair, Mrs Thompson asked if this was something we should be doing but John and I agreed that it was tempting to come here having missed the Spring. Take nothing away from the winner, who was very impressive and hopefully we'll be back to have another go another day. We were concerned in the Spring even before her setback that fast ground might be a problem coming down into dip on the Rowley Mile.”
Prosperous Voyage's dam Seatone (Mizzen Mast), a Juddmonte cast-off who was a 115,000gns purchase by Charlie Gordon-Watson Bloodstock at the 2011 Tattersalls December Mares Sale, is also responsible for the Australian stakes-placed Romanesque (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}). Her dam is the G3 Prix Corrida winner Diese (Diesis {GB}), who proved one of Juddmonte's abundant significant stakes producers when throwing the GI United Nations H. and G1 Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship S. hero Senure (Nureyev) and fellow sire Speak In Passing (Danzig) who captured the GIII San Simeon H. She is also the second dam of the G2 Chairman's H. and G3 N E Manion Cup scorer Permit (GB) (Dansili {GB}).
The third dam is the G3 Ballyogan S. winner and G1 Phoenix S. runner-up Monroe (Sir Ivor), dam of the G1 Dewhurst S. and G1 Prix de la Salamandre-winning juvenile sensation and sire Xaar (GB) (Zafonic) and the G3 Prix Quincey scorer and G1 Grand Criteirum runner-up Masterclass (The Minstrel). She is also the ancestress of the G1 Dubai Duty Free-winning sire Cityscape (GB) (Selkirk) and the G2 Temple S.-winning sire Bated Breath (GB), as well as the five-times grade I-winning champion and stakes producer Close Hatches (First Defence). Seatone's unraced 2-year-old colt Tenerife (Ire) (No Nay Never) was the second-highest-priced lot at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2, selling to Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock for 450,000gns, while she also has a yearling filly by Camelot (GB).
Friday, Newmarket, Britain
TATTERSALLS FALMOUTH S.-G1, £250,000, Newmarket, 7-8, 3yo/up, f/m, 8fT, 1:36.03, g/f.
1–PROSPEROUS VOYAGE (IRE), 126, f, 3, by Zoffany (Ire)
1st Dam: Seatone, by Mizzen Mast
2nd Dam: Diese, by Diesis (GB)
3rd Dam: Monroe, by Sir Ivor
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN, 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (£65,000 Ylg '20 GOFOR). O-Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen; B-Lynch Bages & Camas Park Stud (IRE); T-Ralph Beckett; J-Rob Hornby. £141,775. Lifetime Record: 9-2-4-1, $505,539. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Inspiral (GB), 126, f, 3, Frankel (GB)–Starscope (GB), by Selkirk. O-Cheveley Park Stud; B-Cheveley Park Stud Limited (GB); T-John & Thady Gosden. £53,750.
3–Sandrine (GB), 126, f, 3, Bobby's Kitten–Seychelloise (GB), by Pivotal (GB). O/B-Miss K Rausing (GB); T-Andrew Balding. £26,900.
Margins: 1 3/4, 1, 3 1/4. Odds: 16.00, 0.14, 12.00.
Also Ran: Primo Bacio (Ire), Sibila Spain (Ire). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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PROSPEROUS VOYAGE sells for 2.4million gns at the #TattsDecember Sceptre Session.
