Laura Pearson stars with brilliant ride on Sparks Fly A buccaneering ride from Laura Pearson paid dividends as Sparks Fly ran out a spectacular winner of the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom. Already a 12-time winner for trainer David Loughnane and owner Dave Lowe, the six-year-old was a 7-2 shot for her latest Group Two assignment after finishing a close-up fourth behind dual Derby hero Lambourn in the Huxley Stakes at Chester last month. Sparks Fly soon adopted her customary pacesetting role and rounded the home turn in front, at which stage Pearson made the brave call to stick to the far side of the track while the rest of the field all came across to the near rail. It soon became evident she had made the right call, as while the chasing pack toiled Sparks Fly galloped on relentlessly in the rain-softened ground and passed the post with eight and a half lengths in hand over over Love Dynasty. On her decision to stay on the far rail, Pearson said: “I think I looked round twice to double check! I just had to be brave and she’s such a trooper she doesn’t need horses around her to gallop like that.” She went on: “I’ve never been so confident than I was about a horse going into a race as I was today, there was never a doubt in my mind. “After yesterday I was probably expecting them to stay around the middle, but from my point of view my filly always hangs left so there was no point going up only for her to roll back down. “She’s a filly that loves being in front but she doesn’t have to be, she just loves her own company and she enjoyed it today. “I made sure I had a couple of checks and from about one and a half (furlongs) out I knew I had them covered. “You never know quite how far away they when it’s like that, but it worked out well.”
