Ellusive Butterfly springs Eternal at Carlisle An appearance at Glorious Goodwood could be next on Ellusive Butterfly’s agenda after she supplemented Oaks day success at Epsom with victory in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Eternal Stakes at Carlisle. Karl Burke’s filly won the Surrey Stakes on rain-softened ground just under three weeks ago and was saddled with a 3lb penalty as she chased a Listed double in altogether different conditions. Just A Girl put down her challenge at the furlong marker and briefly headed Ellusive Butterfly, but the 5-2 shot responded to Clifford Lee asking for more and battled back to win the day by three-quarters of a length. James Cowley, Karl Burke’s assistant and son-in-law, said: “It’s different ground and we were toying with the idea of being a non-runner, if I’m honest, but after the first race we asked all of the jockeys what it was like and they said it was lovely, safe ground. “Cliff used the same tactics but in a different way today. She’s fast for a seven-furlong horse but she battles it out really well at the end. To win back-to-back Listed races with a penalty is a good performance, I think. “Different ground, different track. The track will play out different to Epsom. You can and can’t do things on it and Cliff has given her a brilliant ride today.” He added: “We’ll figure out a plan and there’s a good race for her at Goodwood (Oak Tree Stakes) so we’ll give her a freshen up and hopefully that will tee her up into that. She likes the undulating tracks and she handles it well. It’s a nice period of time for her now until Goodwood.”
