Romance best in Middleton Beautiful Romance gained the most significant victory of her career when showing her true colours in the Betfred Middleton Stakes at York. Having finished one place behind favourite Journey when third on Champions Day at Ascot in October, the Saeed bin Suroor-trained four-year-old reversed that form to make a winning return to action in the Group Two contest. Frankie Dettori on the market leader looked to have matters covered when moving to the front past early leader Ballybacka Queen approaching the two-furlong pole, but it was not long before the Italian faced challengers on either side. Having sat just off the pace, James Doyle pushed the eventual winner into a lead she was not to surrender just outside the final furlong. Although Koora stayed on well from the back, the 5-1 chance had stolen enough of an advantage to take the extended mile-and-a-quarter prize by a length and a quarter. Doyle said: "She's been training great for this race and was nice to have a good, clear run at it with her. "She ran well in the Nell Gwyn last year, then she got a few niggly problems and we were just behind the eight ball, just on the back foot, so we were really happy with that. "She's so laid back I had to wake her up a little bit. We went steady enough and I know she's run well over further, but she's certainly not slow and I was mindful of the early pace. Hopefully we can have a lot more fun with her. "She's got good form on soft, but I galloped her two weeks ago on good to firm and she went really well on it so she's just very versatile." Bin Suroor said: "We always thought she wanted soft, so we thought long and hard about running today. I said to James just give her every chance and the more you ask the more you get. "She'll improve for this and we'll think about the Prince of Wales's and the Hardwicke at (Royal) Ascot. She'll go on any ground now, but I still think she prefers good to soft." Godolphin's chief executive and racing manager John Ferguson said: "It was lovely to watch her develop during the winter and become a machine. Last year Saeed was so careful with her and we wouldn't have run her on this ground last year. This year she's stronger and his patience is paying off. "We'll think about the Prince of Wales's. And what she has shown is that she can go on this ground. It was hard to be confident today, as she is lazy at home and doesn't do a huge amount. "Overall she has just matured and developed and is now a professional. We have to consider races like the Prince of Wales's and what she has done today has proved that she's improved from three to four. "Saeed will see how she trains between now and then (Royal Ascot) and that is a possibility. We genuinely believe she is a Group One filly. It's just a question of finding the right one for her." Luca Cumani was thrilled with the effort of Koora. He said: "It was the toughest task she'd faced so far and she ran very well. Jamie (Spencer) felt that he didn't have as much room as he would have liked as soon as he would have liked, but the winner won well and we were clear second-best. "The medium-term plan is the Lancashire Oaks. Whether we go in the Pinnacle Stakes first I don't know yet." John Gosden said of the beaten favourite Journey: "We're happy she ran well. She was a little bit ring-rusty on her first run back. We feel she she could probably do with a touch further and the ground dried up a bit too much, but she ran a good race." James Fanshawe said of fourth home Speedy Boarding: "It was her first run of the year and she ran very well. We'll keep her to a mile and a quarter and she likes this ground. I'd like to get her winning again before going for anything too big."
