Ten lengths was the winning margin as Wild Blossom soared to the top of the Queen Mary Stakes betting. The juvenile contest is the opening race on day two of Royal Ascot next month.
Her trainer, Karl Burke, has an excellent recent record with two-year-old fillies at the event. He has won two of the last four runnings of the Queen Mary Stakes, while the winner of Wild Blossom’s Carlisle novice event last year was Venetian Sun, who went on to win the 6f Albany Stakes the following month.
Wild Blossom looks all about speed, however. The daughter of Mehmas was not sent off favourite at the Cumbria track. That honour was bestowed upon Amo Racing’s Crownbreaker. It was soon clear that she, nor either of the other members of the quartet, would get anywhere near the winner.
Under James Doyle, the Wathnan Racing-owned juvenile showed a tremendous turn of foot to win going right away. The ten-length margin of victory was completely justififed.
Bookmakers reacted by showing opening prices of 5/1 about Burke’s filly for the Queen Mary Stakes. The 5f contest is the Wednesday opener at the royal meeting and looks almost certain to contain Wild Blossom within a sizeable likely field.
“It was all nice and smooth” – Doyle
Speaking after the race about his experience in the saddle, Doyle was sufficiently impressed. He did state that going conditions were unexpected, but that Wild Blossom coped superbly with the race.
“She was impressive and it looks like Karl has targeted another good filly at the race,” Doyle said to Racing TV, via the Racing Post.
“They had a good downpour before racing, so the ground was quite slow, which was a bit of an unknown, but she coped quite well. It was all nice and smooth; the only moment she had was a little jink when she went out on to the track and I almost came off, but apart from that she was foot-perfect.”
With Royal Ascot an inevitable topic of discussion, Doyle also highlighted what he believed to be his mount’s key strengths. To him, it will be obvious which race she turns up in next month.
“She’s very speedy, but she has a good temperament and is very adaptable. I was happy to get a lead and just ride her to finish, but when Kevin Ryan’s horse [Miss Havisham] went on I switched it up a bit and she was very relaxed.
“I’d say she’s more one for the Queen Mary than the Albany. We’ve got plenty to sort out in the coming weeks, so we’ll see where she fits in, but she’s quick, for sure.”