Falling Snow and Gavin Ryan beat Ballet Slippers at the Curragh © Photo Healy Racing
Falling Snow will step up in grade on her next start, but that could be her final action of the year, with Donnacha O’Brien keen to take a steady approach with the exciting filly this year.
A daughter of Justify out of dual Guineas, Royal Ascot and Nassau Stakes scorer Winter, Falling Snow comes from a regal bloodline and shaped like she could possess plenty of her parent’s class when striking on debut at the Curragh.
She professionally accounted for Aidan O’Brien’s Ballet Slippers on that occasion and is now in line for a return to the Kildare venue for the Weld Park Stakes at the end of the month, as her handler tests her ability in Group Three company.
A strong showing in that event could open up the possibility of Falling Snow taking up her bet365 Fillies’ Mile engagement in the autumn, but with the filly already around a 20-1 chance for both the 1000 Guineas and Oaks next season, O’Brien has suggested she will not be overburdened this term.
“She’s in good form and she’s a big, tall girl who still needs to fill her frame a little bit,” he said.
“We’re just taking it slowly, she had an easy week after winning her maiden, and I’m hoping to take her to the Curragh for a seven-furlong Group Three.
“My plan has been to give her two runs this year then leave her off. If she won that race well she is in the Fillies’ Mile and that is something we could look at, but the plan all along has been to just give her two runs. She won’t be busy for the rest of the year anyway.”
