Next month's G2 Sky Bet Lowther S. could be the next outing for Frankel (GB)'s highly impressive first stakes winner Fair Eva (GB), but her trainer Roger Charlton has expressed his confidence that the daughter of the Group 1-winning sprinter African Rose (GB) (Observatory) will be capable of staying a mile.
“From the day she came here, we were very excited by her,” said Charlton of the four-length winner of Saturday's G2 Princess Margaret Juddmonte S. over six furlongs. “She was always very professional and, as you saw yesterday, she is a wonderful mover. She needed to step up a gear but luckily her form has been well franked and she looked good.”
He continued, “I think the only part of her pedigree that people might look at and say 'why would she stay further' is the fact that African Rose won the Haydock Sprint when it was run at Doncaster. She did run over eight furlongs though and won over seven furlongs. The family goes back and you've got Quest For Fame, who was a mile-and-a-half horse, Nijinsky, Roberto–(there's) a lot of stamina in there. It is a proper staying Juddmonte family that has produced some quick horses. Her half-sister by Dansili (GB) won twice over 10 furlongs, so I would be as confident as you can be that she ought to get a mile.”
As well as the Lowther S. at York on Aug. 18, the G1 Moyglare Stud S. during the Longines Irish Champions Weekend is also under consideration for Fair Eva, who is now unbeaten in two starts.
Charlton added, “At the moment I think she is more than capable of stepping up as a 2-year-old and therefore I would think that in three and a half weeks, which is about the ideal period between races, the Lowther has to come into the reckoning. It's a very good prize, a Group 2, I was encouraged to consider that and then three and a half weeks later you've got the Moyglare which is a Group 1 over seven furlongs. That is a possible programme. We don't want to over-race her, but the Moyglare is quite a long time (away).”
Charlton enjoyed a group-race double on Saturday when Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) landed the G2 York S., but the trainer feels the 4-year-old colt could have been short of his best for his hard-fought victory over Mondialiste (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), which came three weeks after he finished third to Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy) in the G1 Coral-Eclipse S.
He commented, “I slightly blame myself. He had quite a tough time on ground he didn't like in the Eclipse and we all know it's been incredibly hot and it's possible that I left him a bit short. I maybe over confidently thought he would go into yesterday and win, which he did do, but I might have left him a gallop short. He might have been getting tired in the closing stages. He travelled well and clearly liked that ground and came as if he was going to win by four or five lengths, but in the end he won three-quarters of a length and got the job done.”
Charlton concluded, “I think it was fairly solid form, it wasn't flashy, but it was a good effort and he's won two Group 2s and will step up, all being well, for the Juddmonte [International S. at York on Aug. 17].”
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