Blue Bolt keeps burning bright with win in Sun Chariot
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The fabulous filly Blue Bolt took no prisoners in the Sun Chariot Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket, running out an easy 2 3/4-length winner, while running her record this season to 6 for 6.
Blue Bolt, a Juddmonte homebred trained by Andrew Balding, won a listed race to start her campaign, captured the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge at Royal Ascot, and since has knocked out four straight Group 1s - the Sun Chariot follows the Falmouth at Newmarket, the Prix Rothschild at Deauville, and the Matron at Leopardstown. Blue Bolt won the Rothschild by a half-length over Precise, but that’s the only time any filly or mare has gotten close to her this year.
Blue Bolt raced perhaps more keenly than ideal while pushing to the vanguard early in the Sun Chariot, a straight-course mile, and fell behind by a few lengths when Moon Target made an early and aggressive move three furlongs out. That didn’t last long. Blue Bolt had her measured with a quarter-mile remaining and widened her lead through the Sun Chariot’s uphill finish.
By Blue Point out of Mayhem, by Whipper, Blue Bolt paid a pittance on the American tote, $2.20.
Now – the question of what comes next. Both Balding and Juddmonte’s European racing manager took a measured approach, couching all their post-race comments with the qualification that the filly’s owners would ultimately, of course, decide where Blue Bolt runs next. She does hold an entry in the Queen Elizabeth II over one mile at Ascot on British Champions Day, but not only does that race come in two weeks, it seems like Blue Bolt more likely runs next in the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.
That does not, however, settle the matter. Blue Bolt would look highly competitive meeting males in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but she’s also under real consideration for the Filly and Mare Turf over 1 3/16 miles. Blue Bolt never has raced beyond a mile, but she easily sees out that trip, and the feeling from her camp seems to be that the added ground on a flat American course with a relatively short homestretch would pose no stamina concerns for this extraordinary racehorse.
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