Magic Lily up at wire in Cape Verdi Stakes

Magic Lily beat Nisreen by a scant nose to win the Group 2, $250,000 Cape Verdi Stakes on Thursday at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

Nisreen had seized the lead with about a quarter-mile left in the turf race for fillies and mares over about one mile, and it was only in the final jump that Magic Lily and jockey James Doyle hit the front.

“I had my head down to ride and didn’t think we’d got up,” said Doyle, who rode Magic Lily for Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby.

Magic Lily won for the first time since her career debut in September 2017 at Newmarket. Magic Lily didn’t race at all during 2018 and only returned to action in a pair of races this past fall in Europe. The 5-year-old mare is by New Approach out of Dancing Rain, by Danehill Dancer, and was racing at a distance short of her best Thursday, according to Doyle.

The veteran turf horse Suedois, who has raced with success in North America, got a win on the Thursday card, too, capturing the $175,000 Aliyah Handicap, another turf mile, by a nose.