Juddmonte prepared to wait for special Red Letter day

Ger Lyons-trained filly is not expected to show her true worth until next year.

There will be no rush for a day to remember with talented filly Red Letter, with connections taking a cautious approach this season with the exciting Curragh scorer.

Trained by Ger Lyons, the Juddmonte-owned daughter of Frankel made an eye-catching introduction at the home of Irish racing, finishing a head second to Aidan O’Brien’s Lake Victoria having been slightly hampered at a vital stage of the contest.

Lake Victoria gave that form a huge boost when winning the Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket, and Red Letter herself impressed when returning to the Curragh to open her account at the second attempt.

She sauntered to a four-and-a-quarter length victory on that occasion, but with plenty of maturing and development to come, her team are keen to tread a fairly low-key path during the remainder of her two-year-old campaign, in anticipation of bigger and better achievements next term.

“She’s looked good and is a lovely filly,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.

“She won her maiden in good fashion last time and is a very big filly and very much on the leg. She’s a filly for next year and will possibly have only one more start and a maximum of two this year – and Ger will decide where they will be in the next couple of weeks.

Red Letter (right) winning at the Curragh
Red Letter (right) winning at the Curragh (Niall Carson/PA)

“If we were going for a Group Three or similar at the end of the month, it would probably be the ideal scenario and we can see how she can progress then from two to three. She’s a big, big filly and not a filly we will over race this year.

“She obviously has plenty of talent and is doing things naturally off her talent rather than being mature – she’s not a filly we want to abuse this year, as she is very immature.”

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