Santorini Star to return next season

Connections of Santorini Star are excited to see if the Prix de Royallieu runner-up can make her mark on the staying division when she returns to the track next season.

The William Haggas-trained four-year-old headed to ParisLongchamp on the back of victory in the Park Hill at Doncaster and was seeking a hat-trick on her first start in Group One company.

After a bold bid on the front-end, she ultimately had no answer to Doncaster runner-up Consent who turned the tables in the French capital, but her team were delighted with the performance and are now looking forward to the lightly-raced daughter of Golden Horn reappearing in 2026.

Sean Graham, racing manager for Tony Bloom, who owns the filly alongside Ian McAleavy, said: “She ran a cracker and had to make the running from where we were drawn. Tom Marquand always planned to go forward on her, but we were hoping something might want to go faster than us and give us a lead.

“That didn’t materialise and she had to lead and Luke Morris gave the winner a brilliant ride, as he just sat on our tail and used us as a target.

“In fairness our filly and the winner were first and second the whole way round and finished first and second and Tom set some good fractions, but just might have set the race up for the winner.

“It showed we’ve got an exciting filly on our hands and next season I think one-mile-six-furlongs will probably be her minimum trip. She definitely stays two miles and I imagine we would be looking at some of the Cup races next year.

“She’ll have a break now and won’t run again this season. She had a hard-enough race at Longchamp and has been on the go all season, but we’re hoping she will come back a bigger, stronger filly next season.

“Even though she’ll be five, she hasn’t had that much racing and she didn’t have her first race till the October of her three-year-old career, so there is fair chance there still might be some improvement to come from her.”

Sky Majesty was also in action in France for the same connections during Arc weekend, failing to play a serious role from an unfavourable draw and on drying ground in the Prix de l’Abbaye.

Ground conditions could again now prove a sticking point for her planned next start in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot later this month.

“Sky Majesty slipped coming out of the stalls and the ground was probably too quick for her so a lot of things conspired against her,” continued Graham.

“The plan is to go to Champions Day at Ascot, but she is a filly who wants soft ground and the weather forecast is dry.

“The number of times I’ve watched British Champions Day and on the day it’s been bucketing down and the ground has been atrocious, yet this year you could get good to firm ground.”