Sunday Series Success For Alice Fairfax
The Skybet Sunday Series has been a real success in its short 4 year history. The series offers top prize money with many bonuses and therefore has been well supported. It was a local one for the yard as the series came to Thirsk and Alice Fairfax broke her maiden when taking the opening 6f Cure Leukaemia Fillies’ Novice Stakes.
Owned and bred by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, the daughter of Lope De Vega is the second foal from a dam whims a close relation to Dubawi. The filly had made a very promising start to her career when making her debut at Doncaster. Finishing fourth over 6 1/2f, she travelled like a dream before just weakening in the latter stages. It looked like a smart race and the way she moved through the contest suggested that she would be winning races before long.
Alice Fairfax had travelled so well in her first start that the drop to 6f seemed as though it would be ok yet her pedigree may suggest a little more stamina based. Tom Eaves took the ride having partnered the filly on her debut run and looked to keep things very simple. Popping out of the stalls, Alice Fairfax was immediately into stride and to the fore, racing down toward the centre of the track. It was a brisk pace and the field were well spread out across the track, with plenty of the fillies showing bright speed.
They raced through halfway in a blink of an eye and it was quite hard to see who held the advantage. With the 14 runners across the track there looked to be no bias and plenty in with a chance. Alice Fairfax had travelled well throughout the contest and she came into the last couple of furlongs pressing the lead. Tom waited for as long as he could and just let his filly lengthen. As she moved forward to take the overall lead, the nearest challenge would come from the stands side rail, well away from the filly.
It was still a wide open contest but as they entered the final furlong, Alice Fairfax began to find top gear. Along with her rival coming down the near side, the pair edged away from the rest of the field. It was quite difficult to see who had the overall lead with he front pair racing so far apart. Both fillies were kind of left to race on their own, unable to really see each other. Alice Fairfax had her head down and with Tom driving away, she had eyes only for the line. Flashing past the post it looked close but also as though Alice had done just enough. It was quickly announced that Alice Fairfax had earned the win by a head.
After a very promising debut in a good looking maiden, it was no surprise to see Alice Fairfax get her head in front at the second attempt. She has shown good natural speed in both her runs and travelled into the races very well. Bred to get a little further, it does look to have been a benefit in her runs as she has finished the race very well here. Obviously it was only the second start of her career and there is more to come from the filly so it will be interesting just where she could get to this year.