See The Fire made a winning seasonal reappearance in the British Stallion Studs EBF Nottinghamshire Oaks Stakes at Nottingham.
The five-year-old See The Fire was unpenalised for her Group 2 and Group 3 victories in this Listed contest and the mare, who has solid Group 1 form to her name, was sent off the 1/3 favourite to stamp her class on proceedings.
Everything looked to be going swimmingly only for See The Fire to tread water close home, scrambling over the line by a neck from It's A Heartbeat.
Winning rider Rob Hornby blamed himself when speaking to Racing TV, saying: "It was always going to be a bit of a muddling race and she's a horse who likes to have a little bit of cover.
"You could see that she moved through the race with ease but we saw plenty of the front which is never ideal. She's very game so she needs a little bit of company. I didn't feel like she got tired, more so that she just saw plenty of the front so my own fault really but it's just the way the race panned out.
"The second horse was a little bit away from her and she couldn't really feel it until she'd gone over the line and then she galloped out strongly. Nice to get this year underway on the right note and she's going to improve.
"She's obviously shown a high level of ability and it's all there to see. Today was a nice, tick the box. She's not easy at home this filly, she's got a lot of fire and Leanne and Shannon do a great job because you'd be a very brave person going in the box with her when she's woken up on the wrong side of the bed!
"Very grateful to Mr Smith [owner] and Andrew [Balding, trainer] to let me ride her today. She's a hugely exciting filly and one to look forward to for the rest of the year."
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Eyes on the Prize
A field of mainly unraced juveniles went to post for the £9 Racedays At Nottingham Racecourse EBF Fillies' Novice Stakes over six furlongs with Phalanx Nation sent off the 10/11 favourite for Archie Watson and Hollie Doyle.
The market leader, however, had to settle for third as King's Prize (4/1) - racing in the colours of HM The King and HM The Queen - quickened up smartly to win by a length and a half from Dubai Charm.
Trained by Ralph Beckett, King's Prize is a Too Darn Hot filly out of a listed winner and jockey Rossa Ryan believes there's a lot more to come.
"It's pretty impressive, she never put a foot wrong," he said.
"I think I hit a ridge after a furlong and I never missed a beat after that. She was green but learnt on the job. She was quick to learn and quickened away well. She's not fully wound up and there's plenty left there to work on.
"She's bred to get further but I don't see a reason why we need to go any further just yet. She's done that well, she looks like she's got plenty to improve on and she was against horses that a lot of them knew their job.
"She's not slow and she's got a good mind on top of it all which is half the battle; she should have a bright future."
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