Burke points to track as factor in Dandalla’s Newmarket defeat

Filly set for winter break after Cheveley Park disappointment.

Karl Burke believes the undulations of Newmarket contributed to Dandalla’s disappointing effort in the Cheveley Park Stakes.

The daughter of Dandy Man was a brilliant winner of the Albany Stakes in June – and while she followed up with a gritty display in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes on the July Course, she was not nearly as impressive as at Royal Ascot.

Dandalla was nonetheless well fancied to extend her unbeaten record to four on her return to Headquarters on Saturday – but after travelling strongly for much of the race, she was ultimately well beaten in fifth place.

Burke said: “She’s fine. She trotted up sound and ate up, and there’s nothing untoward.

“We think she ran a very similar race to what she did at the July meeting. She changed her legs three times as soon as she started running downhill from the bushes, and just didn’t really lengthen.

“I’m not saying for one minute we would have got near the leaders, but it’s probably not her track.”

The Spigot Lodge handler plans to give his filly a break before bringing her back next spring – and remains confident there is plenty to look forward to.

He added: “We won’t run her again this year. We’ll prepare her for a spring campaign and probably have a go at one of the seven-furlong Guineas trials and take the season from there.

“We’ll probably aim for the race at Newbury (Fred Darling Stakes) if we were going to go down that route, but her homework will tell us where we are.

“We think we’ve still got a very good filly for next year.”

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Karl Burke Dandalla

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