Quadrilateral Remains Unbeaten With Fillies' Mile Score

A daring dart up the far rail by Jason Watson meant Quadrilateral maintained her unbeaten record Oct. 11 in the bet365 Fillies' Mile (G1), her young jockey's first British group 1 success.

Quadrilateral's vault to the top of the juvenile fillies' pole has been rapid, with the daughter of Frankel only beginning her career in August.

Three runs and three wins later, the Juddmonte homebred is a group 1 heroine and general 5-1 favorite for next season's QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1).

Quadrilateral already occupied the Guineas box seat after an 11-length romp on her second Newbury outing, but the step into group 1 company provided an altogether sterner test.

After being off the bridle heading into "The Dip," Quadrilateral appeared in trouble. Chasing the leaders into the final furlong, space started to become a premium as the wearying Boomer drifted toward the rail, with Powerful Breeze taking over and also heading in the same direction.

However, Quadrilateral was brave enough to surge up the rail inside the final 100 yards to beat Powerful Breeze by a head, with Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) winner Love staying on for third.

It was only last summer that Watson burst into the mainstream consciousness with a Unibet Stewards' Cup win on Gifted Master, and the significance of his latest big win was still sinking in nearly an hour later.

"It's a big fairy tale. I can't believe it," he said. "I'm only 19 and haven't experienced a lot yet. I haven't ridden in many group 1s, and I'm so grateful for getting the opportunities from (trainer Roger Charlton) and (owner) Khalid Abdullah.

"She's a very talented filly, and I'd say she got me out of trouble. She's very tough, and it's the first time she's had a proper race."

Charlton is finishing 2019 with a flourish. Quadrilateral is his second group 1 winner of the season after Aspetar's recent success in Germany. Watson was in the saddle on that occasion as well.

"Two or even three furlongs out, I thought, 'We're not running well. We're coming off the bridle, and it's not going to happen,'" the trainer said. "She kept responding and fought like a good one, and it was a great effort, really."

A supplementary fee of £40,000 was needed to add Quadrilateral to the field, and Charlton was pleased to have been persuaded into going for glory.

"The easier option was to go for the Oh So Sharp," he added. "I was thinking it's not often good fillies come along. We could go and win that and keep the dream open for May rather than taking on the best. Management encouraged me (to go for the Fillies' Mile), and the result was good." 

The One Thousand Guineas remains the target for Quadrilateral, and runner-up Powerful Breeze could await there again.

The latter's jockey, James Doyle, said: "She's done nothing wrong, and maybe we were out in front a bit too long, but that is another step forward. She's a group 1 filly all right, and I would imagine we'll be back here for the One Thousand Guineas."

Quadrilateral Caps Big Week for Frankel With 10th Group 1 Winner

Quadrilateral's rapid ascent of the juvenile ranks and victory in Friday's Fillies' Mile at Newmarket gave her sire, Frankel, his 10th group/grade 1 winner.

The filly is Frankel's second elite-level 2-year-old after his first-crop daughter Soul Stirring, who landed the 2016 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) in Japan.

Quadrilateral's success also means her sire has doubled his top-flight tally of winners this year, with five new group 1 scorers appearing on his burgeoning stud record in 2019.

The first of this year's group 1 winners was Dream Castle, who landed the Jebel Hatta Sponsored By Emirates Airline (G1) at Meydan. Anapurna then gave the Banstead Manor Stud resident his breakthrough domestic classic success with victory in the Investec Oaks (G1). The Meon Valley Stud homebred added to her haul when she landed the Qatar Prix de Royallieu (G1) on Arc weekend.

Next came Cheveley Park Stud's Veracious, who won the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes (G1), before Logician gave Frankel a second British classic winner with an impressive victory in the William Hill St. Leger (G1).

With four crops of racing age on the ground, Frankel has now supplied 79 stakes performers, 38 group winners, and 10 listed scorers. The lengthy list of successes has undoubtedly heightened the demand for Frankel's progeny at public auction, as evidenced at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale this week.

A total of 22 lots by the son of Galileo sold for an aggregate of 10.3 million guineas (US$13,243,567) and, at a fee of £125,000 ($153,772), for an impressive average of 468,180 guineas ($601,980). He sired the sale's second-most expensive offering, the half brother to Investec Derby (G1) and Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) hero Golden Horn who went the way of Godolphin for 3.1 million guineas.

Friday's racecourse success also means Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte breeding operation has been represented by four homebred group 1 winners this year, a list headed by the mighty Enable, who won the this year's Coral-Eclipse (G1), King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1), and the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) before a heartbreaking near-miss in her bid to land a hat trick of Arc victories.

Juddmonte's other group 1 winners this year are 2-year-old Siskin, a son of First Defence who landed the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes (G1), the aforementioned St. Leger hero Logician, and Quadrilateral. 

Fine Female Line

Frankel is not the only Juddmonte celebrity in Quadrilateral's pedigree. She is the fourth foal out of the winning Mizzen Mast mare Nimble Thimble, the dam of two other scorers.

Nimble Thimble is a half sister to Three Valleys, the son of Diesis who promised so much when he won the 2003 Coventry Stakes (G3) by eight lengths at Royal Ascot. However, he flopped in the Phoenix Stakes on his next outing, and while he did bounce back to claim the Shadwell Stud Middle Park Stakes (G1), he was later disqualified in controversial circumstances after testing positive for clenbuterol.

While Quadrilateral's career has not yet spanned two months, her breeder has been nurturing her family since the early 1980s, following the private purchase of Nimble Thimble's third dam, Sookera, a William Hill Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) winner by Roberto who raced for Robert Sangster.

Nimble Thimble and Three Valleys are out of Skiable, a listed-placed Niniski half sister to Juddmonte's blue hen Hasili—the famed dam of five elite winners: Banks Hill, Cacique, Champs Elysees, Heat Haze, and Intercontinental, as well as another high-class performer in Dansili, who went on to sire 21 top-flight winners during his stallion career at Banstead Manor Stud.

Quadrilateral is not the first example of Frankel working with this family, as it is also the source of the group 3-winning Mirage Dancer, who is out of Heat Haze, and this season's Prix de Sandringham (G2) winner Obligate, who is out of Hasili's unraced daughter Responsible.

Nimble Thimble also has a yearling filly by Frankel, as well as a 2019 colt by Kingman. She was covered by Banstead Manor Stud newcomer Expert Eye this season.