Cinderella's Dream Back on the Breeders' Cup Trail in the Falmouth

Almost a bigger name in the States than she is in her native Britain, Cinderella's Dream (Shamardal) gained her first Group 1 on home soil on Friday as she mastered Newmarket's Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes. Runner-up in the G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes last month, the 5-2 second favourite put that behind her by upstaging Ballydoyle's 6-4 market-leader January (Kingman) by half a length in the mile feature.

“We're very much going to work back from the Breeders' Cup Filly And Mare Turf,” Charlie Appleby said of Godolphin's breakthrough first Falmouth winner, who had been edged out by Moira in November. “It annoyed me when that got away from us last year, so we'll go back for a crack at that–how we get there we'll work that out.”

Uncharacteristically workmanlike when undone by Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) at Royal Ascot, last year's GI Belmont Oaks Invitational winner was back to the level she had flaunted when taking the nine-furlong G2 Dahlia Stakes on the Rowley Mile here in May. Even keen initially for William Buick, she had ground to make up on January with that weight-for-age favoured rival coming up the stand's rail but turned it on to wear her down inside the final 100 yards. Crimson Advocate was 1 3/4 lengths behind in third.

“I don't think she was quite 100% on song at Ascot–she was beaten too far out,” Appleby added. “We always look for excuses when we're beaten, so we used the bend there and the three-pound penalty, but she's been around Del Mar and you aren't going to get many tighter turns than that. Maybe it was the fact that a mile around a bend is sharp enough.”

“She's knee high to a grasshopper, but she's as tough as teak. I'm delighted for her, as she's been so consistent and for her to win a Group One here in Europe is richly deserved. I don't really want to travel with her like we did last year–before the Breeders' Cup, the Nassau [at Goodwood] is an option.”

Aidan O'Brien has the Aug. 3 G1 Prix Rothschild in mind for January. “She ran a lovely race, she is improving and we think there's more improvement to come from her,” he said. “She's a lot of ability and it's coming. She's definitely a miler–she's quick. There is the fillies' race in Deauville in a few weeks' time, so we might look at that for her.”

Wathnan Racing's racing advisor Richard Brown said of Crimson Advocate, “There wasn't a huge amount of early pace and more pace would have meant she could have been snaffled into it a little bit more, but she's run a very good race. She's run a great race and I hope she can have her day in one of these.”

🔵 Cinderella's Dream – back in business with @Tattersalls1766 Falmouth Stakes glory pic.twitter.com/l1SSFGvHbB

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 11, 2025

Pedigree Notes
Cinderella's Dream is the second and first live foal out of Dubawi's Espadrille, an 800,000gns purchase by the operation at the 2015 Tattersalls December Foal Sale. Her dam High Heeled (High Chaparral), who was third in the Oaks before taking the G3 St Simon Stakes, was out of the GII San Clemente Handicap and GII San Gorgonio Handicap winner Uncharted Heaven (Turtle Island) whose descendants include the G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Just The Judge (Lawman), the G2 Premio Dormello winner Aloa (Cracksman) and Shamardal's G2 Champagne Stakes winner Iberian. Espadrille's last known foal is the winning three-year-old filly Blue Laced (Farhh).