Unbeaten juvenile Desert Flower took the step up to G2 company in her stride with a comfortable victory in the May Hill Stakes at Doncaster, UK, on Thursday, 12 September.

The Night Of Thunder homebred, stepping up in class for Charlie Appleby on the back of two impressive Newmarket wins, broke on terms in the mile contest and soon tracked the leading trio of Anshoda, Serving With Style and Flight.

Switched out with three furlongs left, Desert Flower stayed on strongly to hit the front just inside the final furlong. She was kept up to her work by William Buick in the closing strides, hitting the line a length and a half ahead of January.

Charlie Appleby said: “Desert Flower did what we expected, although she is still quite lightly framed and will hopefully grow into herself over the winter. I would imagine that we will look towards the G1 Fillies’ Mile with her and we will see how she comes out of the race before finalising plans.

“She is an exciting filly for next year because whatever she achieves this season was always going to be a bonus.”

William Buick said: “This was a big step up on what Desert Flower had achieved, but we were very confident that she could deal with it and I thought she was foot perfect. She looked around in front and I just had to keep her up to her work.

“Everyone has always liked her, and Charlie was very clear that he wanted to come here after she won first time out. This race has been won by some smart fillies in the past and I think she is in that category.

“She is a big filly with plenty of scope and a beautiful pedigree. It all suggests that she is going to get better as a three-year-old.” 

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