UK: Rose blooms in Cherry Hinton

Saturday, 14 July 2012: Sendmylovetorose maintained her unbeaten record with a determined effort in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket.

Trained in Northern Ireland by Andrew Oliver, the filly had to be withdrawn from last month's Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot after becoming upset and getting trapped underneath the starting stalls, but she showed she had suffered no ill effects when winning a Group Three at the Curragh.

Colm O'Donoghue had to get to work with a couple of furlongs to run, but Sendmylovetorose (2-1 favourite) answered his every call to battle her way to the lead in the Group Two contest and she held off Maureen's flying finish by a neck.

O'Donoghue said: "She's still relatively inexperienced, I didn't get to teach her much the first two runs, but she's got the ability and handles the ground. I'm delighted for connections. She's a lovely filly and has gone from strength to strength. Andy gave me a lot of confidence and said do your own thing.

"She's quite light on her feet and could handle better ground too. She's got the class to do it on that ground and that's the sign of a good filly. She's still raw and green so there's more to come."

Oliver added: "I haven't decided about her next entries, but she would have to be supplemented for the Lowther, which is a race we could look at. There are also options like the Phoenix Stakes and the Cheveley Park. She's a very tough filly and Colm just kept it very simple, he gave her a great ride."

John Gosden unleashed another useful prospect as Ghurair made a winning start to his career in the Weatherbys EBF Maiden Stakes.

Seemingly well fancied as the 3-1 favourite, the Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned colt travelled kindly towards the near rail and eased into contention under Paul Hanagan before beating Godolphin newcomer Improvisation by a length and a half.

Hanagan said: "He felt pretty smart. Temperament-wise he's absolutely A1 and he's got a lovely attitude. It was a bit of a messy race and I was just trying to follow the right lead horse, but when a horse is travelling like that it makes your job a lot easier. He's had a great introduction today."