Moyglare Stud Stakes (Group 1)

OWNER Steve Parkin (Clipper Logistics) was made up when his Flight Plan won the race he sponsors, the Dullingham Park Stakes, at Leopardstown on Saturday, but the victory of Fallen Angel (9/2) trumped that at the Curragh on Sunday. His homebred filly valiantly fought off Vespertilio to claim Group 1 gold in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Like Flight Plan, the daughter of Too Darn Hot was trained by Karl Burke and ridden by Danny Tudhope. She raced prominently for the latter and although Vespertilio’s challenge looked to be a winning one as she came down her outside in the final furlong and traded 1/8 in-running, Fallen Angel fought back tenaciously to win the day. The winner is out of Agnes Stewart, who won the Group 2 May Hill Stakes and finished second in the Fillies’ Mile for Eddie Lynam, and Parkin revealed there was a poignant tint to the victory on Sunday.

“We lost her mother to colic when she was a foal,” he said. “That is the last foal out of her mother and she is the spitting image of her mother. Emotional is an understatement - it’s fantastic.

“My daughter names all the horses, and after the death of the dam, Fallen Angel is the name we gave her. Now we’ve bred a Group 1 winner, a Moyglare winner.”

Joe Foley, Parkin’s racing manager, is one of the founders of the Irish Champions Festival, so a high profile double on the weekend was big.

He said: “She is a gorgeous filly. Her mother and herself used to live in the paddock in front of Steve’s breakfast room so he has been watching her since she was born so to win this, the Moyglare, is pretty special.”

Fallen Angel has progressed on each of her four starts now and had previously stayed on strongly to win the Sweet Solera on Newmarket’s July course. She was quoted as a general 8/1 favourite for the 1000 Guineas and in the short term, may try to go one better than her mother in the Fillies’ Mile.

The runner-up, Willie McCreery’s filly, looked set to score but just got outstayed. The front two pulled well clear of a field that contained the disappointing Ylang Ylang, who faded out of contention when things got serious. Her trainer Aidan O’Brien later suggested that the run was a bit of a write-off, due to the soft ground and the filly’s keeness in the race.