Charlie Johnston’s promising filly Sacred Angel will make her first outing since May when returning to action in the Listed BetMGM Fleur De Lys EBF Fillies’ Stakes at Lingfield on Wednesday.
A comfortable winner of the Princess Margaret Stakes at two, Sacred Angel went on to finish fourth in the Group 1 Prix Morny and third in the Cheveley Park at Newmarket to cap off a highly promising juvenile campaign.
The daughter of Dark Angel was well-beaten on her seasonal debut in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in May and following a subsequent injury, she has been off the track ever since.
The Charlie Johnston-trained grey, who is ridden by Billy Loughnane for the first time, will face eleven rivals at Lingfield as she drops back to Listed company for her belated reappearance.
"Sacred Angel had an injury after the Guineas, which kept her off for the summer, but she has been back in full training for a good while now and is ready to start off again," said Charlie Johnston.
"We had a choice between this race over an easy mile or the Golden Rose Stakes over a stiff six (furlongs) at Newcastle. In an ideal world, we probably would have liked a race over seven furlongs, but we felt it made sense to keep her against her own sex.
"We did not really learn anything in the Guineas in regard to trip, so hopefully we will learn a little bit more about her on Wednesday."
Iken will bid to make Chantilly-based trainer Josephine Soudan's first runner on these shores a winning one when she takes on the likes of Sacred Angel, William Haggas' Doom and the Ralph Beckett-trained Ornellaia in her swansong race at Lingfield on Wednesday.
Josephine Soudan's five-year-old looked a touch unlucky when a keeping-on third behind Spark's Fly, who has since franked the form with back-to-back Listed wins, in the same grade at Saint-Cloud early last month.
Soudan said: "Iken seems to be very well in herself. She does not appreciate very soft ground, so when she ran in the Prix Coronation that was the maximum she could handle.
"We decided to target this race because we wanted to go for a Listed race on an all-weather track. There were some options in France, but the distance was not right for her.
"Her owner is English, and this will probably be her last race, so we felt it was a good call to travel and have fun in England.
"I used to work for Marco Botti and John Gosden. I was very happy in England, and it is nice to be coming back with a runner capable of hopefully putting in a strong performance."
