Cinderella's Dream enhances 1000 Guineas claim by winning in Meydan

Following low-key wins at Lingfield and Thirsk, the daughter of Shamardal made an impressive Dubai debut in last month’s Jumeirah Fillies Classic – a race won last year by Saeed bin Suroor’s Mawj, who not only followed up in the Jumeirah Guineas but also went on to land the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Cinderella’s Dream was extremely short odds to maintain her unbeaten record on ‘Super Saturday’, but disaster almost struck at the halfway stage as William Buick’s saddle slipped forward, prompting the dual champion jockey to kick his feet out of the irons for the remainder of the race.

Buick could do little more than sit and suffer from the home turn, but it did not prevent Charlie Appleby’s charge from going through the gears and she pulled five and a half lengths clear of the Amy Murphy-trained Geologist with the minimum of fuss.

Paddy Power cut Cinderella’s Dream to 12/1 from 16/1 for the QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5, and Buick had nothing but praise for the three-year-old following her latest triumph.

“She took a hold early and she’s only quite slight, so when I took a pull my saddle slightly went up in front of me, and then when the pace slackened her going into the turn and I steadied her off heels, it went up again,” he told the Dubai Racing Club.

“I’m not sure what you could see on the TV, but I was getting a bit unbalanced up her neck, so the safest thing to do was to kick my feet out (of the stirrups) and she’s still managed to win. She was very professional, it was a bit of a rodeo show really but she got the job done.

“She’s really progressing and she’s won as she liked with no help at all. I think she’s done really well and with each start she keeps doing things better, so you’d be very happy with that.”

Appleby joked: “That was always the plan. The filly showed her talent and William showed his talent as well. Unfortunately when she broke from the gates she broke sharply and the saddle just pitched up her neck, so William just felt at a certain point of the race he had to take his feet out of the irons and do the rest of it cowboy style!

“She’s a talented filly, she’s four from four now. We haven’t got an immediate plan, but as we know the filly who won this race last year went on to win an English Guineas. I’m not saying she’s good enough to win an English Guineas, but she’s probably earning her stripes to be able to participate in one and be competitive.

“Dance Sequence would be our main Guineas filly, she won the Oh So Sharp Stakes and she’s an unbeaten Dubawi filly. She would naturally be in front of this filly, but she’s doing little wrong, so she probably deserves to potentially take her chance.

“She’s had two runs out here for the winter, so you’d probably look at going straight into the Guineas.”

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