Godolphin’s Summer Romance blossoms at Empress Stakes

DUBAI: Exciting two-year-old Summer Romance maintained her unbeaten record with a comprehensive victory in the Listed Empress Stakes over six furlongs at Newmarket, UK, on Saturday.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Kingman filly, a debut winner over the same distance at Yarmouth on June 13, broke smartly for James Doyle and soon tracked the leaders in third of the seven runners.

She cruised up to take the lead on the bridle over a furlong and a half from home and powered clear before being eased near the line to score by six lengths in 1m 12.23s on ground described as good to firm, good in places.

Appleby commented: “We have always liked Summer Romance. She came to us from the Deauville breeze-ups, having breezed very well there, and has been very straightforward since coming to us.

“I think she is a nice filly with plenty of scope and time is only going to benefit her. I don’t know what we have beaten today but she couldn’t have done it any more impressively.

“She probably didn’t learn a great deal at Yarmouth but, the way she is doing it, you can’t fail to be excited about the future for her.

“We will potentially look at stepping up to seven furlongs and coming back here for the G3 Sweet Solera Stakes on Aug.10.

“I think going up to seven is probably going to be the way forward and the Sweet Solera Stakes will give us a bit more time. We will try and space out her runs going into the autumn.”

Doyle said: “Summer Romance gave me a nice feel on quite bad ground at Yarmouth and she has definitely progressed again.

“The race panned out beautifully. I got a nice lead, we went a good tempo and, when I pulled her out into a bit of space, she took off and showed a really good turn of foot. It was similar to what she did on her debut.

“She trains in a hood at home and is quite enthusiastic, so we just have to put a lid on her early in her races. I reined her back to get a bit of cover coming out of the gates and she switched off nicely.”