Newmarket: Blue Bolt too good for Falmouth Stakes as Senorita Bonita shines in victory | Racing news

Blue Bolt was unbeaten this season when Tattersall’s Scepter Sessions followed up his Royal Ascot win with a stunning display in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.

The daughter of Blue Point Andrew Balding was second to Fallen Angel in the Sun Chariot last October – her other previous appearance in Group One company – but has since proved unstoppable and is claiming her third win of the calendar year since landing the Duke of Cambridge Stakes at the Royal Meeting.

Sent off the 85-40 second-favourite, Colin Kane’s four-year-old tracking Ballydoyle pacemaker Venosa was among a group of four in the center of the track that also included Aidan O’Brien’s Irish 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes winner Precise, who was 4-5.

With Venosa unable to lead the field for more than six furlongs, the race began to unravel rapidly with a quarter of a mile to run and although at one stage four jockeys asserted their mounts, there was only one winner inside the final furlong, Blue Bolt two lengths clear of the friendly generational battle.

Balding said: “He’s quality, he looked good at Ascot and it was great to see him do it in that style today.

“He got a little bit alone there at the end and he’s just got that amazing cruising speed and the ability to maintain it and he’s exceptional.

“Colin has absolutely mastered him and as I said before, since his debut at Southwell which seems so long ago now, he has barely put a foot wrong on the racecourse. We are thrilled to have him.

“I think it was a deep race, definitely, and I think my concern today was that the fast ground might catch up to him.

“I thought we’d go a little bit further, but I think it’s clear after his journey of a mile today.

“Alcohol Free won a Cheveley Park, July Cup, a Sussex Stakes and a Coronation and was incredibly versatile, whereas this filly is just an exceptional miler.

“I think the Matron Stakes (at Leopardstown on the Irish Champions weekend) is the obvious one, but whether we look at Deauville in between, we’ll have to see.”

Although beaten when facing his seniors for the first time, O’Brien refused to be disheartened by Precis’ performance.

The Ballydoyle master is now considering a step up in trip for the daughter of the Starspangled Banner, something that was first mooted when the four-time Group One winner was touted as an Oaks candidate following her Classic triumph at the Curragh.

O’Brien said: “He ran very well, obviously he saw that he would stay further but we always thought it was going to happen anyway.

“We kept him at a mile because there was no reason to take him, but looking at him today, the older filly was a bit faster than him in the middle of the race and got a bit further away from him and he came back to the line.

“We’ll see, he’s still run very well. It’s possible we’ll step up the trip now, but the Diamond Necklace is going to Goodwood for Nassau, so he won’t be there.”

Senorita Bonita shines in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes

Senorita Bonita compensated for her Royal Ascot near-miss when she flew home impressively in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket on Friday.

Trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, who won the race in 2024 with Arabian Dusk, the 900,000 Guineas purchase Craven topped the Breeze-Up sale and made a winning start at Nottingham in early June.

He only got the better of Aidan O’Brien’s Victorious in the Queen Mary Stakes at the Royal Meeting, but was sent off 9-4 to get the better of Oisin Murphy on the July course, stepping up at six furlongs.

After running a bit sharply after an early bump, she soon settled down and after tracking the early pace, Senorita Bonita positioned herself ideally to display an electric turn of foot, edging Albany Stakes winner and 10-11 favorite Libertango by three-quarters of a length.

Ed Crisford said: “They didn’t get any momentum early on, he had a bit of a bump and it lit him up a bit, but Oisin settled him down nicely.

“His turn of foot today was electric – once he said go, he did seriously well.

“It was a very good performance. After Ascot we felt he definitely wanted six furlongs and we weren’t really worried about that.”

Chrisford now plans to move up to Group One level in France, adding: “I’d say we’ll go to the Prix Morny. He’s got a penalty now in Group Two and he showed today he’s a very good filly, so I think we’ll let him go to Deauville.”

George Boghi was not too disappointed with the performance of beaten favorite Libertango.

He said: “It’s hard to know exactly how fast they went, but they wanted to go slowly at first.

“He went very fast at Ascot and today I think he just lost a bit, not necessarily through the dip, but he didn’t have enough of the finishing kick he had at Ascot.

“Arguably he may have hit the front too early because there wasn’t a lot of speed to carry him, but I think a Royal Ascot winner and second in Group Two behind a very good filly who came here with a huge reputation, he didn’t lose a huge amount in defeat.

“We’ll get him home and see where we’re at and make a plan going forward. It (York’s Lowther Stakes) is definitely a possibility, but we’ll let the dust settle and he’s had three relatively quick runs.

“He narrowly lost in defeat behind a good horse today – it’s not like he was beaten in the fifth six. He ran a good race but probably a little less than he did at Ascot.”