Magical adds Mooresbridge Stakes to her tally

Star filly Magical disposed of a small but select field to take the Group 2 Coolmore Highland Reel Irish EBF Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh, comfortably beating Flag Of Honour by a length and a half in the ten-furlong feature. The King was a neck back in third, the same margin separating him from last year's Irish Derby scorer Latrobe.

She also beat last year's Irish St Leger winner comfortably in last month's Group 3 Alleged Stakes at Naas, her first outing since chasing home Enable in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs in November.

The Group 1-winner is daughter of prolific champion sire Galileo (by Sadler's Wells), who currently sits in second place to Danehill in the all-time list of sires of Group 1 winners and in third, to Danehill and Sadler's Wells, in the all-time list of sires of stakes winners. Some sources call him "world champion sire" but given that sire championship titles are decided by earnings, he has never achieved that feat. Deep Impact, on the other hand, has – and Japanese prize money levels make it unlikely that any non Japanese-based horse can top that annual ranking.

Full replay and reaction: Magical produces sparkling performance in Mooresbridge Stakes at @curraghrace >>>https://t.co/NSmVvBme8P pic.twitter.com/xRIPLfYZ2n

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 6, 2019

Magical, whose pedigree was reviewed in detail in her chapter of European Group 1 Winners of 2018, was bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, she is a full-sister to Group 1 Lockinge Stakes heroine Rhododendron and also to the ten-furlong Group 3 winner Flying The Flag. She also has a two-year-old sister who has been named Heaven of Heavens and a full-brother who was born in January of this year.

Their multiple Group 1-winning dam Halfway To Heaven (by Pivotal) is a daughter of the Group 2 King's Stand Stakes scorer Cassandra Go (by Indian Ridge) and that half-sister to the classic-placed pattern winner and successful sire Verglas (by Highest Honor) is also notable as being the grandam of US Grade 1 star Photo Call (by Galileo). Rahaam (by Secreto), the third dam of Magical, is also the third dam of last year's Group 1 Melbourne Cup star Cross Counter (by Teofilo).

Magical holds a long list of Group 1 entries, as you might expect, and the evidence provided by her first two runs of the year suggests that she will win at least once at the top level in 2019.