Magical opened her account for the season when making all the running in the Group Two Kilboy Estate Stakes at the Curragh. The full sister to Flying The Flag is a previous Gr2 winner and lost a Gr1 by a whisker to Happily previously. In turn, they are both full siblings to 3-time Gr1 winner, Rhododendron.
Winner of the Debutante Stakes at this level on this course last summer, the Aidan O’Brien-trained filly had been well-beaten on heavy ground on her only previous start in 2018, but got back on track with a solid display.
Ryan Moore made his intentions clear from the start by taking Magical to the front from the outset and the 5-4 favourite found extra when tackled by the four-year-old I’m So fancy in the final furlong to score by two and three-quarter lengths.
The winner’s stable companion Broadway was two lengths away in third while September finished last on her seasonal debut for the team after being slowly away.
“It was nice to get one for the weekend,” said O’Brien.
“We had her ready to run in the Oaks (at Epsom), it was the plan to run her, but she just knocked the inside of her joint and then it just took a long time for the swelling to go down and the soreness to go out, so she got held up.
“We had her in the Oaks yesterday, but we were afraid to run her as we were afraid she wasn’t fit enough.
“This was a nice start back for her and hopefully she’s OK. She was leaning left a little bit all the way in the straight. Hopefully she’ll be OK after it.
“She’s a lovely filly – how far she’ll stay, I’m not sure. We’ll see how she is but we could have a look at the Yorkshire Oaks with her.
“Talking to Ryan there, he thought she maybe wasn’t ready to step up to a mile and a half yet.
“The whole rest of the season is in front of her if she’s OK.”
O’Brien was not too disheartened with September’s display and expects plenty of progress following the outing.
He added: “Obviously we were babying September along to try to get her back after her setback in the spring.
“The plan was to drop in and Seamus (Heffernan) was always going to look after her if she got tired. There should be an awful lot of improvement in her.”
Flying The Flag stands at Bush Hill Stud, his first crop will be yearlings very soon on 1 August. Flying The Flag’s first crop have impressed with plenty of quality and substance.
-extract skysports.com
