Royal Ascot winners could clash in the Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes

Duntle after her Duke of Cambridge Stakes victory at Royal Ascot. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

Coronation Stakes heroine, Sky Lantern, could reappear in the Group 1 Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket on July 12, the feature race on the middle day of the three-day Piper Heidsieck July Festival and race four in the Fillies & Mares division of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

The race presents the first clash of the generations for fillies and mares, with top class three-year-olds and older fillies and mares set for a battle of supremacy over the July Course’s straight mile.

Sky Lantern overcame a wide draw, passing the entire field en route to scoring by no less than four lengths for trainer Richard Hannon in last Friday’s Group 1 feature at the Royal Meeting.

“She has come out of last week’s race okay and the Falmouth is on her radar, but it is too early to say if it will become her target,” said Hannon’s son, Richard junior.

Sky Lantern has lifted one showpiece event at Newmarket already this season as she came out on top in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas Stakes on May 5, run over the same distance but on the neighbouring Rowley Mile racecourse.

The Irish-trained Duntle, another big race heroine from Royal Ascot where she landed the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes, looks likely to make the Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes line-up according to Alan Cooper, racing manager to her owners, the Niarchos Family.

“I have had a good discussion with her trainer, David Wachman, and he is very happy with the way that Duntle has come out of Ascot, so we will definitely have a look at the Falmouth,” Cooper says of the four-year-old, who has been first past the post in her last five races although lost one in the stewards’ room.

“She has enjoyed the straight mile at Ascot twice so although the straight mile on the July Course will be new territory, it should be within her capabilities.”

The Falmouth has been a happy hunting ground for French visitors of late – the trophy has been exported across the Channel twice in the last four years.

The field could again have a French flavour as their four entries include both the 2012 winnner, Giofra, and Sky Lantern’s closest pursuer from the Coronation Stakes, Kenhope.

Also entered is Elusive Kate, the John Gosden-trained four-year-old who went down by half a length to Giofra in the race last year and who ran very promisingly in the Queen Anne Stakes a week ago on her seasonal reappearance.