Team Valor International’s flying filly Euro Charline was an impressive winner Friday afternoon at Ascot and is now under consideration to cross the Atlantic and take on the best turf fillies and mares in America in the Grade I $750,000 Beverly D. on Aug. 16.
By Group I sprint-winning juvenile Myboycharlie out of six-time winner Eurolink Artemis, Euro Charline is based at Marco Botti’s yard at Prestige Place in Newmarket.
Friday’s victory in the one-mile Listed Valiant Stakes was the English-bred’s second consecutive run over the testing Ascot course. Previously, in June’s Group I Coronation Stakes, the filly ran a huge race to be third – beaten a length – and gave a credible effort when fifth in May’s Group I 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.
“She was a bit unlucky a couple times,” explained Barry Irwin, Team Valor’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We were pretty confident today. In the (Coronation) she had to wait and was on the rail. When she finally got through she got bumped pretty hard, but she still ran well.”
In Friday’s race, Euro Charline broke alertly made the running before being impugned by Qatar Racing’s Kiyoshi and ultimately proving victorious. “Today she set the pace and kind of idled on the lead,” Irwin explained. “(Kiyoshi) got the jump on her and challenged, but we came back and drew away.”
The victory was Euro Charline’s first black-type score and may be a sign of more to come for the game filly. A run in the Beverly D. would be an attempt against older fillies and mares at the highest level for the first time, as well as an initial attempt beyond a mile. Botti, who has won a race at the International Festival of Racing in the last two years, is eager to see the filly do so.
“Marco has wanted to do it all along,” Irwin said. “I thought it was too tough to run against older horses this time of year in a Grade I and she’s not proven beyond a mile, but she ran at Ascot and that course has a tough uphill finish.
“I’m a little skeptical about it, but he feels that she can handle the extra ground and wants to do it. It’s three weeks away, so we’ll let the horse come back and then take a good look at our options,” Irwin said. “One of the best parts about it is that it’s an easy flight for us.”
