Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 13 July 2026

Looking back to last week’s July Meeting at Newmarket, I was mightily impressed with the performance of Senorita Bonita in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.

The daughter of Starspangledbanner had looked very smart at the Craven Breeze-Up sale in April, where she fetched an eye-watering 900,000gns, having been sold in the October Book 2 yearling sale six months earlier for 75,000gns.

She confirmed that promise in her early work for Simon & Ed Crisford and made her debut in a 5f maiden contest at Nottingham in June. Outpaced and very green from flagfall, she was switched left entering the final furlong and produced a turn of foot, which her trainer said afterwards was “exceptional”, to get up to win by a short-head.

Just a fortnight later she appeared in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Drawn in stall 10, she was quickly away and soon up with the pace on the far side group. She went smoothly into the lead a furlong out but couldn’t withstand the late burst of Aidan O’Brien’s Victorious, who pulled clear to win by two lengths in an excellent time.

Afterwards her clearly elated trainer remarked on how much she had come on from Nottingham, adding that she had the “right temperament for going forward” and was “not just a two-year-old.”

I should add that I have known Simon Crisford for many years … we actually went to the same Prep School … and he used to help me out in his formative years when he was the Newmarket correspondent for the Racing Post.

I soon became aware that, among his many qualities, he was an exceptional judge of gallops work. Many a time he brought unraced horses to my attention, on some occasions before the trainers themselves knew what they had shown.

His reports and comments were always balanced and not subject to hyperbole or the sensitivities of connections, so I took great store when he talked in such glowing terms of this filly.

It was for this reason, as well as her obvious credentials on form and her excellent speed-figure, that I expected her to win last week’s Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes, stepping up from five to six furlongs.

The favourite was George Boughey’s Albany Stakes winner Libertango, rated 11lbs higher on 109 against Senorita Bonita’s 98, with other less-exposed types from top yards also in the line-up.

For some reason she appeared to be more inexperienced than she had at Ascot, lugging right at the start and then racing keenly until halfway. For a few strides a furlong out she looked held, before she produced a scintillating burst of speed to pass five rivals and get up close home.

Afterwards Oisin Murphy said that he had tried to relax her in the race, but she became lit up by some early scrimmaging. He felt she was a sprinter, but her pedigree suggests otherwise.

Her sire Starspangledbanner is getting winners over trips beyond a mile, while her dam is by Derby winner Ruler Of The World and related to two middle-distance Pattern winners.

However, pedigree counts for nothing if the horse doesn’t settle, so it’s good to learn that the Prix Morny and the Cheveley Park have been pencilled in as her next targets.

By the way, I would suggest that her Queen Mary conqueror Victorious could be exceptional.

As a daughter of Wootton Bassett out of a middle-distance winning sister to Oaks winner Minding, she had no right to beat a field of such quality over five furlongs, especially given this was a drop in trip for her, having won twice over six. As a point of interest, she is blind in her left eye.

I would rate her the pick of Aidan O’Brien’s two-year-old fillies at this time and a serious contender for the Guineas, or further.

Bye for now

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