Euro Charline is en route to England and to the care of trainer Marco Botti, a year to the date of her debut win at Wolverhampton, off the beaten path for a horse who would develop into the only three-year-old to win Arlington’s Beverly D. Stakes.
The filly was vanned from Kentucky to catch a direct flight to Stansted Airport, down the road from Botti’s yard in Newmarket.
Euro Charline is ready to resume training after about five weeks of down time to recuperate from minor surgery to a hind ankle. A tiny bone fragment was removed by arthroscope after she developed lameness that prevented her from running in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland on October 11 for Todd Pletcher.
Under Botti, Euro Charline finished second by a half-length in the Nell Gywn Stakes at Newmarket in her Team Valor debut in April and an unlucky third in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot before breaking through for a win in the Valiant Stakes at Ascot.
In the Beverly D., the bay filly stretched out beyond a mile for the first time and dispatched three horses who would go on to win Grade 1 races in their next starts. Two of them, Flower Bowl winner Stephanie’s Kitten and E.P. Taylor winner Just the Judge, would continue on to finish second and third, respectively, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
The Team Valor partnership that campaigns Euro Charline decided in mid-October to send her back to Europe to continue her career, with the $6 million Dubai Duty Free at Meydan as a possible goal.
