Lady Of Spain was hailed as ‘something special’ by her delighted connections after maintaining her unbeaten record when making her turf debut a triumphant one in the BetMGM Atalanta Stakes at Sandown Park.
The Roger Varian-trained daughter of Phoenix Of Spain made it five wins from as many starts when striking gold in the Group Three contest, which was her first start since securing a Listed contest on the all-weather at Deauville 255-days ago.
Victory appeared to be going the way of the strong travelling 100/30 favourite Bright Thunder, who breezed almost effortlessly to the front pass Spiritual inside the final quarter of a mile under Sam James.
However, her effort was to be short lived as the four-time seeking Blue Bolt, down the outside of the field and Lady Of Spain, charting a path closer to the far side running rail, moved on by to battle it out.
Despite lacking a recent run Lady Of Spain knuckled down to the task in hand well to get the better of Blue Bolt by half a length with the running on Skellet, who was anchored at the back early on, finishing a further four lengths adrift in third.
Leon Boros, part owner, said: “There were loads of question marks as it was her first time on turf and there was also the question of how she would handle the soft ground, but she has always had this great attitude.
“I think we have always done well with the horses we have chosen as we go attitude first and we saw that in her when she was very young.
“We have had to be patient with her as those by Phoenix Of Spain tend to be quite big and they put a lot of pressure on those front legs so they need time to mature.
“I’ve got another one called Indalo, who won a couple of days, but she is something special.
“It was a quality field and really excellent Group Three so we had to be realistic as to what we thought.”
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And the victory was a welcome one for winning rider Ray Dawson with the success his first since returning from a spell out on the sidelines with a broken rib and broken left wrist.
He added: “She had been off the track a while and she had never run on turf, and it was soft ground, so she had a lot of questions we needed to ask her, but in fairness she answered them all really well.
“She has handled the conditions well and the time off the track hasn’t done her any harm. She seems like a proper filly.
“My plan was to slide forward and hopefully slot in the first five or six, but after the first furlong I noticed there was a big gap in between the four upsides me so I took her back, but I had a willing partner and she was tough as around the home bend it got tight and messy.
“She held her position, and whether that has made the difference I don’t know, but she has got a lot of ability.
“Everyone wants to get winners for Roger as he spreads the winners out very fairly. To get a winner on a Saturday on a big day like this means the world.”
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