By Sean Cronin
Godolphin blueblood Spirited Style (Sea The Stars), a daughter of the operation's three-time Group 1 winner Wild Illusion (Dubawi) backed up a breakthrough victory at Haydock in May with a career high on black-type debut in Saturday's Listed Ric & Mary Hambro Aphrodite Fillies' Stakes at Newmarket.
“She's improving and improving off each run, she relished the conditions today and really enjoyed the [good-to-] soft ground,” said winning rider Billy Loughnane. “I hit the front sooner than ideal, but we had to go as I didn't want to get boxed in. She'd have probably been a more impressive winner had I not needed to do that. She hadn't been tried in any stakes-level race and some of the others brought in a good standard of form. It was a bit of an unknown, but she took to it well and is still learning.”
Patiently ridden several lengths off the pace in sixth for most of the 12-furlong test, the 5-4 favourite made smooth headway inside the final half-mile to inch ahead passing the two pole and was driven out up the hill to assert by 1 3/4 lengths from G3 Bronte Cup third Sueno (Camelot).
Nice @godolphin's (Sea The Stars x Wild Illusion) glides to Listed honours under @loughnane_billy in the Aphrodite Fillies' Stakes @NewmarketRace pic.twitter.com/ui6ZyORwzw
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 19, 2025
Pedigree Notes
Spirited Style, who becomes the 139th stakes winner for her sire, is the second of five foals and lone runner out of G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, G1 Nassau Stakes and Prix de l'Opera heroine Wild Illusion (Dubawi), herself a full-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Turf hero Yibir and Listed Floodlit Stakes runner-up Wild Crusade. The March-foaled bay's stakes-winning second dam Rumh (Monsun) also produced Listed Montrose Fillies' Stakes winner Really Special (Shamardal) and G3 Prix d'Aumale second Ceratonia (Oasis Dream). Really Special is the dam of Listed Silver Tankard Stakes victor Local Dynasty (Dubawi). Spirited Style is from the family of GI Beverly D heroine Royal Highness (Monsun), G1 Deutsches Derby hero Robertico (Robellino) and G1 Dubai World Cup winner Electrocutionist (Red Ransom). She is a half-sister to 2-year-old, yearling and weanling fillies by Frankel.
Saturday, Newmarket, Britain
RIC & MARY HAMBRO APHRODITE FILLIES' STAKES-Listed, £45,000, Newmarket, 7-19, 3yo/up, f, 12fT, 2:35.48, g/s.
1–SPIRITED STYLE (GB), 121, f, 3, by Sea The Stars (Ire)
1st Dam: Wild Illusion (GB) (MG1SW-Fr, G1SW-Eng & GISP-US, $1,590,217), by Dubawi (Ire)
2nd Dam: Rumh (Ger), by Monsun (Ger)
3rd Dam: Royal Dubai (Ger), by Dashing Blade (GB)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O/B-Godolphin; T-Charlie Appleby; J-Billy Loughnane. £25,520. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $46,506.
2–Sueno (Ire), 132, f, 4, Camelot (GB)–Danehill's Dream (Ire), by Danehill. (400,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-George Strawbridge; B-Llang Bloodstock; T-John & Thady Gosden. £9,675.
3–Jane Temple (GB), 132, f, 4, Siyouni (Fr)–Palitana, by Giant's Causeway. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-A E Oppenheimer; B-Hascombe & Valiant Stud Ltd; T-John & Thady Gosden. £4,842.
Margins: 1 3/4, 4 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 1.25, 5.50, 50.00.
Also Ran: Modern Utopia (Ire), Understudy (GB), Sea Just In Time (Ire), Chorus (GB), Caspi Star (GB), Favorite Memory (GB), Kate O'Riley (GB).
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