Run Away upholds family honour with game debut win

Adam Morgan
April 30, 2024 3:57 pm

Andrew Balding’s Yarmouth scorer is a full-sister to star performer Blackbeard.

Big-ticket purchase Run Away made the dream start to her on-track career as the sister to Blackbeard showed plenty of heart to survive the late assault of Cat Ninja at Yarmouth.

The daughter of No Nay Never brought the hammer down for EURO 2.6million as a yearling as part of bloodstock agent Richard Knight’s spending spree on behalf of Derby-winning owner Saleh Al Homaizi, that saw him sign for over GBP 20million worth of stock.

However, payment was not forthcoming, meaning she was subsequently sold privately to a partnership of Qatar Racing, Ecurie des Monceaux and David Howden, entering training with Andrew Balding.

Unraced at two, she was sent off at 7-1 for her racecourse bow in the Download The QuinnBet App Maiden Fillies’ Stakes and was quickly prominent in the hands of her jockey Oisin Murphy.

EURO 2.6m purchase wins!
The full sister to Blackbeard, Run Away holds on to win on debut for @AndrewBalding2 and @oismurphy at @GTYarmouthRaces… pic.twitter.com/xkVb12cQaO

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 30, 2024

She was travelling powerfully at the head of proceedings by the time the field had reached the three-furlong marker, but it was inside the final two furlongs of the seven-furlong event she met her first challenge, as the Sir Michael Stoute-trained 5-2 favourite Red Pixie moved up alongside with a threatening run.

Run Away showed her class to beat off that attack, but no sooner had Red Pixie’s momentum begun to falter, than the fast-finishing Cat Ninja appropriately arrived stealthily on the scene, with the John and Thady Gosden-trained half-sister to Cachet forcing the winner to pull out all the stops to register a neck verdict.

“We loved her as a yearling at the sales but just couldn’t afford to buy her and we were fortunate enough to put together a team to buy her at a bit of a discount later on in the year after the previous buyer failed to come up with the money,” explained Qatar Racing’s David Redvers.

“It was still a significant investment for a beautiful filly and as a result, it is always quite nerve-wracking when they go down to the start.

“She’s a really exciting filly going forwards and we’ll obviously have to discuss with Andrew where he wants to go and what he wants to do, but that is the first exam out of the way.

“The race had a tasty look to it when you looked at the betting and what was happening to the prices of a few of the others. It was one of those three-year-old maidens where horses have clearly come forward well over the winter and it is better than the bare form of those that have run.

“We were pleased to see her do it as well as she did. We have ambitions that she is a genuine stakes filly and that was a very good first step.”