Incredible Sparks Fly may not be done quite yet

Another French trip may beckon for Dave Lowe’s pride and joy.

Sparks Fly may not have won for the final time this year as the unstoppable filly takes aim at a Saint-Cloud return.

Trained by David Loughnane and owned and bred by Dave Lowe, the three-year-old has soared through the ranks this season since making her debut on the all-weather in January.

Synthetic surfaces clearly were not to her liking, but since switching to the turf she has been expertly guided by Loughnane to a superb run of eight victories – and she may not be done just yet.

Her one and only blip was a beaten effort in the Listed Lyric Stakes at York over a mile and two and a half furlongs, but connections still gained something from the experience as it highlighted that her ideal trip was a mile.

With that in mind she journeyed to France for the Prix Isola Bella, a Listed contest at Saint-Cloud in late October, and astonished all involved when bolting to totally unchallenged 12-length success under regular rider Laura Pearson.

The filly barely saw a rival as she cruised up the inside rail and gained black type in emphatic style, potentially booking herself in for a return to the same track for the Prix Tantieme later this month.

“It was an unbelievable moment actually, David was over in France and I was at home watching it,” said Lowe.

“It’s sort of disbelief, we couldn’t even get emotional, normally you’d be cheering your horse on but we were just flabbergasted. Where did that come from? Unbelievable.

“The commentator was joking that they’re going to nickname that rail the Sparks Fly rail.

“Laura gets on so well with her, it was a masterstroke from the start as she just came from that mid-draw and just went over to that rail. She knew she was going to angle that way but that wasn’t the intention, she thought she’d go down the middle of the track and if they hung that way, fair enough, but there’s no point fighting her – she likes getting her own way!”

Lowe and Loughnane make a successful partnership and the owner-breeder is quick to credit the trainer with producing her from a 59-rated maiden to a 102-rated Listed winner.

“He has brought her through really, really well,” said Lowe.

“That race in France was perfect for her, we found out more about her from the York race when she was disappointing.

“We always thought she would get more than a mile but it turns out a mile is the perfect distance for her and the perfect ground is basically bottomless. She will run on good, it’s not out of the question, but that’s the recipe for success by the look of it.

“She’s been on the go since January but she’s come out of the race really well, I dare say she’s never looked better. We’re looking at another run in Saint-Cloud again on the 17th of this month, we’ll enter up for that and if she’s telling us she wants to run again then she’ll run again and if she’s telling us she’s had enough then we’ll put her away.”

A winter break then beckons, after which Sparks Fly will return to training to for 2024 and may set her sights higher as a four-year-old.

Lowe said: “Dave has said to me that he thinks she’ll make an even better four-year-old, which is quite scary. He thinks we can definitely get a Group race with her next year with everything going our way.”

Lowe bred Sparks Fly from the mare Stepping Out, a three-time winner he owned in a partnership and took on when an injury ended her career, a shrewd move that has provided him with three winning offspring; Sparks Fly, Queen Mary third Caroline Dale and four-time winner Baby Steps.

“I only ended up with her by accident, she was a horse I was involved in with three other people and she got injured and the intention was to sell her,” the owner said of Stepping Out.

“I thought, ‘well I can’t just sell her if she’s injured. I don’t want anybody racing her again and causing more problems’, so I took her under my wing and sort of just fell into breeding but now she’s had three very successful foals.

“We thought we’d reached a peak with Caroline Dale coming third in the Queen Mary, but then this one comes along and just blows her away!”

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