Dar Re glee
Dar Re Mi just held Beach Bunny in a thrilling finish to the Audi Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.
The 9-2 shot, trained by John Gosden and ridden by Jimmy Fortune, made virtually all of the running to take this Group One prize.
She had to work hard to keep Beach Bunny (25-1) at bay, while Ralph Beckett’s Look Here, the 11-8 favourite, finished a staying-on third.
Dar Re Mi and Katiyra took the seven runners along from Beach Bunny, Lush Lashes and Look Here.
When they turned into the straight, the field moved across towards the centre of the course.
Beach Bunny came through to challenge Dar Re Mi, but the latter just would not give in and prevailed in a pulsating finale.
Look Here got going far too late over this mile-and-a-quarter trip and had to settle for minor honours.
Dar Re Mi was last seen finishing second in the Middleton Stakes at York.
She also got to within two lengths of the mighty Zarkava in France last autumn.
Owner Madeleine Lloyd Webber said: “I am obviously thrilled.
“She has been second in two Group Ones and come up against to very good fillies (Lush Lashes and Zarkava).
“She was also second in a photo-finish last time so she really deserves this.”
The winner now automatically qualifies for a Breeders’ Cup entry, and Lloyd Webber added: “I would love to go to the Breeders’ Cup.
“Why not go globetrotting?”
After a lengthy stewards’ inquiry into interference with Beach Bunny close home, Fortune said: “We never touched and although we went slightly right, it has fallen our way.
“We got control of the race early on but I would have been happy to drop in.
“There was no concern about the ground as she has won on similar ground before.
“She stays well and a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half is fine for her.”
Beckett said of Look Here: “Seb Sanders said that she took a while to get going on the ground.
“She did win her maiden on that ground, but she couldn’t pick up on it as well as the first two.
“She was coming home well, as we know she can, and was only beaten a length.”
