Horse Racing
Senorita Bonita shines in Duchess of Cambridge Stakes
Senorita Bonita gained compensation for her Royal Ascot near-miss when flying home impressively in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket on Friday.
Trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, who won this race with Arabian Dusk in 2024, the 900,000 guineas purchase was top lot at the Craven Breeze-Up sale and made a winning start at Nottingham in early June.
She found just Aidan O’Brien’s Victorious too good in the Queen Mary Stakes at the Royal meeting, but was sent off 9-4 to go one better in the hands of Oisin Murphy on the July course, stepping up in distance to six furlongs.
Having raced somewhat keenly following an early bump, she soon settled down and after tracking the early pace, Senorita Bonita found herself ideally placed to demonstrate her electric turn of foot, lowering the colours of Albany Stakes winner and 10-11 favourite Libertango by three-quarters of a length.
Ed Crisford said: “They went no pace early, she got a bit of a bump and that set her alight a bit, but Oisin settled her lovely.
“Her turn of foot was electric today – once he said go, she picked up seriously well.
“It was a very good performance. After Ascot we felt like she definitely wanted six furlongs and we weren’t really ever worried about that.”
Crisford is now planning a step up to Group One level in France, adding: “I’d say we’ll go for the Prix Morny. She has a penalty in Group Twos now and she showed today she’s a very good filly, so I think we’ll give her a go in Deauville.”
George Boughey was not too disappointed with the performance of the vanquished favourite Libertango.
He said: “It’s hard to know exactly how quick they went, but they looked to go slow early doors.
“She quickened off a very fast pace at Ascot and today I think she just got a little bit lost, not necessarily through the dip, but she didn’t quite have that finishing kick she had at Ascot.
“Arguably she might have hit the front too soon because there wasn’t a huge amount of pace to take her there, but I think to be a Royal Ascot winner and second in a Group Two behind a very good filly who came here with a huge reputation, she’s not lost a huge amount in defeat.
“We’ll get her home and see where we are and make a plan going forward. It (Lowther Stakes at York) is certainly a possibility, but we’ll let the dust settle and she has had three relatively quick runs.
“She lost very little in defeat behind a good horse today – it’s not like she was fifth beaten six lengths. She’s run a good race but possibly slightly below what she did at Ascot.”
