Shamardal filly takes first juvenile stakes race of the year

Ballydoyle sent out an odds-on favourite for the Listed First Flier Stakes at the Curragh, the first juvenile blacktype event of the year, but that War Front colt had to settle for minor honours as the Willie McCreery-trained filly cruised to victory. The daughter of Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway) won by two and a quarter lengths in the hands of Billy Lee and looks a leading contender for next month's Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Third place went to the Jessica Harrington-trained filly In The Present, who represents the first crop of mile star Karakontie (by Bernstein), and she was a short-head in front of the Fozzy Stack-trained American Lady (by Starspangledbanner).

Odds-on Ballydoyle favourite downed!

Ickworth (Billy Lee) comfortably has the number of King Neptune (Ryan Moore) in this Listed contest for two-year-olds at The Curragh pic.twitter.com/j5qhAa3XcZ

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 6, 2019

Ickworth is owned and bred by Godolphin and her only prior start was a winning debut over the minimum trip at Dundalk in late March. Her siblings include the stakes-placed sprinter White Witch (by Invincible Spirit) and her dam was a wide-margin Grade 1 star over seven and seven-and-a-half furlongs in Argentina as a two-year-old.

That mare is called Ishitaki (by Interprate) and she is out of Nice Watch (by The Watcher), a winning half-sister to the Argentine Grade 1 winners New Dandy (by New Noble), Nice Bijou (by Search Tradition), and Nice Tradition (by Search Tradition). Their race records suggest that Ickworth could stay a mile in time.