Alla Speranza

Alla Speranza impressed with the manner of her victory in the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday and there is every chance she can go on from this now.

It was her first win since her debut at Cork last October when she stayed on well over a mile and half a furlong on soft ground to beat Hail. She looked a potentially smart middle-distance filly in winning that maiden, so it is not that surprising that she stepped up on anything she had done before in Saturday’s race, over a mile and a quarter, the longest trip over which she has raced.

Tenth Star and Joseph O’Brien set a good gallop on Saturday, Kevin Manning settled Alla Speranza in fourth of the five runners, but the grey daughter of Sir Percy was the first one off the bridle, some way before the three in front of her. She stayed on really well to win in the end though, coming down the centre of the home straight, and posting a good time.

It looks like this longer trip, together with the good ground - this is the first time she has encountered a genuinely sound surface - is the key to her. She is from a middle-distance family, by a Derby winner out of a mile-and-a-quarter listed race winner who herself is out of the dual Champion Stakes winner Alborada, and Alla Speranza could improve again for stepping up to a mile and a half.

Her trainer Jim Bolger said afterwards that he may have run her back too quickly after the Guineas at Newmarket (when she was a decent sixth), and he gave her more than three months off after her second run of the season. She has progressed with each of her three runs back now, and there could be a fair bit more to come, both later this season and if she is kept in training next year.

8th September, 2012

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