Integral, Sky Lantern rematched in Falmouth Stakes

Integral, Sky Lantern, and Rizeena head the seven fillies and mares entered in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes on Friday at Newmarket in England.

Integral and Sky Lantern, both 4-year-olds, met in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at the Royal Ascot meet last month. It was a good day for Integral, who beat 13 rivals scoring a two-length victory, but not so much for Sky Lantern, who failed to threaten finishing fifth in her first start of 2014.

Sky Lantern now has turned in two sub-standard performances, having ended her 3-year-old campaign with a last-place finish in Hong Kong, but she is eligible to rebound at Newmarket, perhaps her favorite course. She won the English 1000 Guineas last spring at Newmarket, and in September, handled Integral in the Sun Chariot Stakes, beating her by one length for her fourth Group 1 victory.

Integral, however, might be the more progressive of the two fillies. Where the Richard Hannon-trained Sky Lantern started six times at age 2 in 2012 and has raced 14 times, Integral, a Michael Stoute-trained filly, went unraced at 2 and makes just the eighth start of her career. She has finished worse than second only once, when extended a quarter-mile beyond her best one-mile trip last summer, and stands ready to notch the first Group 1 win of her career Friday.

Rizeena and Kiyoshi are the two 3-year-olds in the field, each getting a nine-pound break in the weights from their older opponents. Rizeena, a top 2-year-old last season, won the age-restricted Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in her most recent appearance.