Courage and class carries Beautiful Romance to G2 success

A classy win by Beautiful Romance in the G2 Zipping Classic at Sandown completed a unique treble for Godolphin trainers in Australia on Saturday and fully justified the faith of her trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

On a day when three different Godolphin trainers won races on the same card, Beautiful Romance produced one of the best runs of her career to snatch victory in the last stride, making amends for an unlucky G1 Melbourne Cup run.

“The reason we sent her to Australia was because we believed she was capable of running well in this class,” Saeed said.

“She’s a Group 2 winner in England and she performed very well to run third in a Group 1.

“We know how difficult it is to win races in Australia against these horses.

“But I was confident to send her because I know she has class.”

Beautiful Romance produced as much courage as class in today’s win, which still seemed unlikely with 100m to run.

But jockey Glyn Schofield persisted after the filly lost ground when racing tight at the 400m.

“She wasn’t comfortable racing really tight, but once we got a bit of room, she put her neck out and really tried,” Schofield said.

“She lost a little bit of momentum, but when she needed to, she picked up and went again."

Saeed said the determination shown by Beautiful Romance came as no surprise.

“Even in the morning when she works and a horse comes up beside her, she shows her class always, she always tries to beat the other horse,” he said.

For Saeed the win provided a little compensation for Beautiful Romance’s luckless seventh in the G1 Melbourne Cup earlier this month.

After jumping awkwardly from the inside gate the filly was buried away until late in the race and surged to the line when clear.

“She was unlucky last time in the Melbourne Cup, but she always tries hard. It’s great to see her win.”

Along with her win in the G2 Middleton Stakes at York, Beautiful Romance’s English career was highlighted by a third placing in the G1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot last October.

Along with the rest of the visiting Godolphin team, Beautiful Romance will leave Melbourne for the UK on Wednesday.