BetMGM Sun Chariot Stakes
Group 1 Fillies, Newmarket 14:40
£275,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
1m, Class 1   
Saturday 4th October 2025

BetPlay

1 Fallen Angel 11/4
2 Blue Bolt 17/2
3 Cinderella's Dream 11/8F
9 ran NR: Sparks Fly Distances: 2¼l, 4½l, ¾l
Time: 1m 33.31s (fast by 2.79s)

Fallen Angel soared once again at Newmarket, registering her third consecutive Group One triumph with a performance that, in truth, never looked in doubt once the cards were on the table.

Karl Burke’s four-year-old may have taken a little time to rediscover her full brilliance this campaign, but since the turn of August she has made her case emphatically — the best filly over a mile in training, bar none.

Already a Group One winner at two and three, the brief for this season was simple: add another top-level prize. That mission was accomplished in France with her success in the Prix Rothschild, followed by a display of sheer determination in the Matron Stakes.

Here, James Doyle kept his powder dry early, charting a path down the centre away from the main group. As the race developed, the duel we’d all hoped for emerged — Fallen Angel versus Blue Bolt — and the pair drifted towards the stands’ side. From there, the 11-4 chance lengthened her stride and drew clear with authority, two and a quarter lengths to the good at the line. Another four and a half lengths adrift came the favourite, Cinderella’s Dream, for Charlie Appleby.

Burke was full of admiration afterwards. “She’s an absolute superstar. Apparently the fractions were really quick and it’s rough conditions out there, but she is so tough and when the Juddmonte horse came to her, it was only going to help her.

“James hadn’t gone for his stick until the final furlong and I knew she would find again once he gave her a smack, she’s a brilliant filly.

“I think this is probably a career best and if you take the second out she’s a long, long way clear of some nice fillies.

“I would love to try her over a mile and one (furlong) or a mile and a quarter again as she should be staying those trips, but she does like to get on with it and does so well over a mile. It’s a nice problem to have.”

The bookmakers were quick to react, trimming her to 4-1 from 6s for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on British Champions Day, where she looks almost certain to take on the colts at Ascot on October 18.

Burke confirmed as much: “I would say if she’s in the same form and comes out of it well – and she’s got her ears pricked now – then there is no reason why we wouldn’t turn up in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in two weeks’ time.

“I’m told if she finishes the season sound, she’ll stay in training next year.”

James Doyle, who has now partnered Fallen Angel to back-to-back Group One wins after drawing blanks on her previously, was understandably glowing about his partner’s attitude.

“She wears her heart on her sleeve and I just ride her how she likes to be ridden and that’s to get on with things. She likes to give you a moment’s worry when she gets headed a furlong and a half out, but she battles and she was drawing away at the line.

“I was trying to ride her too collectively previously (when beaten on her), but we’ve got it right now. Danny Tudhope has been a big help to me and he said to just keep chucking the reins at her and asking her questions and she’ll respond.

“She’s very adaptable, but just doesn’t want fast ground and the more ease she gets she relishes.

“It’s hard to know with fillies how much they have left at this time of the year, but she looked magnificent when they pulled the rugs off her today and if she looks like that in the next couple of weeks why not go to Ascot, she’s got a long winter to chill out.”

Once again, Fallen Angel proved the measure of her rivals — a filly whose stride speaks of power, whose attitude whispers of greatness, and whose wings may yet carry her higher still before the season is done.

BetMGM Sun Chariot Stakes (Fillies' Group 1)
£275,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Good, Good to Soft in places

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (3)    Fallen Angel 4 9-5 K R Burke James Doyle 11/4
2 (5) 2¼ Blue Bolt 3 9-2 Andrew Balding Colin Keane 17/2
3 (9) 4½  Cinderella's Dream 4 9-5 Charlie Appleby William Buick 11/8F
4 (8) ¾ Lady Of Spain 4 9-5 Roger Varian Ray Dawson 5/1
5 (4) ½ Cathedral 3 9-2 Kevin Philippart De Foy Rowan Scott 28/1
6 (6) 1¾ Atsila 3 9-2 Donnacha O'Brien Gavin Ryan 16/1
7 (7) 3¾ Cheshire Dancer 4 9-5 Hugo Palmer Harry Davies 125/1
8 (10) 4 Spiritual 4 9-5 John & Thady Gosden Robert Havlin 18/1
9 (1) 1 Saqqara Sands 3 9-2 Ralph Beckett Rossa Ryan 20/1
NR 5 (2) Sparks Fly 5 9-5 David Loughnane NON RUNNER