The Group I Newmarket One Thousand Guineas (1m) for the fillies delivered a surprise package of a result as did the colts edition on Saturday with victory going to the half-sister by Kingman to Woodside Park Stud’s new recruit Benbatl (GB).
With race favourites Fallen Angel (Too Darn Hot) and Ylang Ylang (Galileo) out of the placings it was left to the Roger Varian trained filly Elmalka to charge home from last and score a thrilling win neck win over Group I Cheveley Park Stakes winner Porta Fortuna (Caravaggio) with game Justify filly Ramatuelle holding on for third after looking certain to win.
Elmalka won her debut on the all weather track in late November before stepping out for the first time this year to finishing third to the Italian wonder filly Folgaria in the Group III Fred Darling Stakes and won her first Group I at just her third start.
“Elmalka got very unbalanced. She just took a couple of strides to organise herself. I was happy with the way she travelled but she's just inexperienced. She's very tough and I think the further she's going to go the better she's going to be,” said winning rider Silvestre de Sousa.
“She's very easy to ride. She switches off. I was always behind the bridle so when she goes up in trip it shouldn't be a problem.”
It was the third Classic win for Roger Varian, who was delight with the result.
"It's a huge thrill that hasn't sunk in yet. You don't come into these races expecting that you may win but she ran a great race at Newbury [third in the Fred Darling Stakes] and all credit to James Doyle, who gave her a great ride that day,” Varian said.
"He got an education into her there and she finished strong. We weren't on the 1,000 Guineas trail but after that there was such a turnaround in the filly in the past fortnight that it made sense. I was in two minds whether to run her, but I wanted to do right by the filly and we decided to give it a go.”
Elmalka is a homebred for Godolphin raced by Sheik Ahmed Al Maktoum.
"It's special to win a Classic for Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, who has supported me all my career and Michael Jarvis before me. She's a homebred filly who is out of Nahrain, who was the first Group 1 winner for me in my first year of training when winning the Prix de l'Opera,” Varian added.
Elmalka is a half-brother to triple Group I winner Benbatl, who shuttles from Japan to Woodside Park Stud this spring and is the second Group I winner among five winners from top class dual Group I winning Selkirk mare Nahrain, a daughter of Group II winner Bahr tracing back to champion New Zealand mare La Mer.
Elmalka is the 11th Group I winner for Kingman, who had a stakes double on the program with promising filly Friendly Soul winning the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes (1m2f) prompting speculation she may be headed for Group I races.
Trained by John and Thady Gosden, Friendly Soul was having just her second start following a debut win at Kempton last year and scored a dominant length and a half win over race favourite Kalpana (Study of Man)
“Friendly Soul is a lovely filly and I think she is a mile and a quarter filly. She won't be an Epsom filly, but we might make a visit to Chantilly (for the French Oaks),” said John Gosden.
A homebred for George Strawbridge, Friendly Soul is the latest stakes-winner for exceptional blue hen In Clover, a Group III winning daughter of Inchinor.
In Clover has had 12 named foals and all have raced to produce nine winners that include a whopping seven stakes-winners – Call the Wind (G1), With You (G1), We Are (G1), plus Listed winners In Crowd, Dream Clover, Incahoots and now Friendly Soul.
Elmalka and Friendly Soul are the 77th and 78th stakes-winners for Juddmonte Farm’s Kingman, whose Australian foaled Group I winning son King Colorado is a new addition for Widden Victoria this spring.
