Vesela lands Gillies Stakes

Three-year-old Frankel filly Vesela earned her first Listed win at Doncaster on Saturday in the Gillies Stakes.

Taken from Thoroughbred Daily News, 7th November 2021

Vesela triumphed at this venue in the second of two juvenile starts last year, but was waiting for her first win this season and stepped forward to collect a first stakes success in the Listed Gillies Stakes. Settled off the tempo in sixth after an alert getaway from an outer stall, this term's Listed Abingdon Stakes and Listed Upavon Fillies' Stakes third made smooth headway on the bridle in the straight to launch her bid at the three-furlong marker and stayed on resolutely once shaken up approaching the two pole to assert for a career high.

"She got rolled over in the Lyric at York and she ran well in the Upavon at Salisbury," said trainer Ralph Beckett. "We ran her back quickly in the Galtres, which was a mistake, and I got it wrong with her really. I shouldn't have done it, but leaving her alone and running her here was a good idea as it turns out."

Jockey Rob Hornby added: "I was just trying to keep her in a rhythm throughout and it was very hard work out there. Not many horses were going to make up a lot of ground, but I was in front too soon. She did well to keep battling all the way to the line, because it was a lonely enough place for her, and she stuck at it well."

Vesela is the latest of 15 foals and one of 10 scorers produced by Listed Flying Fillies' Stakes victrix Arabesque, herself a daughter of Gr.1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Prophecy.