Billy Loughnane rode Davina Grace to victory at Newmarket© Photo Healy Racing
Rae Guest was thrilled to secure his first stakes race victory in over eight years as Divina Grace struck gold in the British Stallion Studs EBF Chalice Stakes at Newmarket.
A three-time winner in handicap company last season, the four-year-old was placed at Listed level at Pontefract on her penultimate start, but finished well held on her latest attempt in the Aphrodite Fillies’ Stakes at the July Course last month.
The daughter of Golden Horn was a 6-1 shot for this assignment and after initially sitting on the tail of pacesetting 2-1 favourite Lmay, Divina Grace took over with two furlongs still to run and stuck to her guns once challenged by Place Of Safety to prevail by a length and a quarter.
Guest has enjoyed big-race success in the past with the likes of 2008 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Serious Attitude and the high-class sprinter Mirza, but this was a first win at Listed or Group-race level since Jane’s Memory landed the Cecil Frail at Haydock in 2016.
“It’s been a long time,” said the Hamilton Road handler. “We’ve won Group Ones, Group Twos, Group Threes and plenty of Listed races. I think this is about our 30th (stakes race winner), but it’s taken a long time to get there.
“We were optimistic today, as she ran very well at Pontefract and didn’t get much luck at Newmarket last time. She stumbled coming out of the stalls and then got trapped on the rail a bit.
“She’s a galloper, she doesn’t quicken, and she just couldn’t get out in time that day, but we knew we were a couple of lengths better than that – and if we could beat the ones we didn’t know much about, we knew she had a great chance.
“That was the winning part of the race I think, getting a good position early on and plenty of daylight, and she was good.
“The owners are very enthusiastic, so she’ll keep racing this year and maybe next year and every jockey who has ridden her has said she’ll get further, which opens up a few opportunities.
“We’ll try to keep her to fillies-only races and we might look abroad as well.”
The star attraction on the undercard was Desert Flower, who looked every inch a top-class filly in the making when doubling her tally in the Turners EBF Fillies’ Novice Stakes.
Charlie Appleby’s Night Of Thunder juvenile had made a big impression on her racecourse debut over the course and distance three weeks ago and was a prohibitively-priced 1-4 favourite to follow up under a 7lb penalty and make it a double on the day for Loughnane.
Desert Flower barely broke sweat in beating Dash Of Azure by six and a half lengths and was cut to 12-1 from 20-1 for the 1000 Guineas by Betfair, who make her a 20-1 shot for the Oaks.
Saffie Osborne enjoyed a treble on the afternoon, claiming victory aboard Clive Cox’s 5-2 favourite Magic Mild and the Richard Spencer-trained Run Boy Run (4-1) before striking on Ensured (6-1) for Dr Richard Newland and Jamie Insole.
