Fallen Angel given Lockinge aim by Burke

Fallen Angel will return to a mile after Karl Burke nominated Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes as the starting point for her four-year-old campaign.

A Group One winner at two, the daughter of Too Darn Hot was sent off favourite when fifth in last year’s 1000 Guineas before going on to claim the Irish equivalent in fine style at the Curragh.

A setback kept her out of the heart of the summer action, but she advertised her well-being with great efforts in defeat in both the Matron Stakes and when upped in distance for the Prix de l’Opera.

Purchased by Wathnan Racing prior to her two back-end runs, she has been kept in training at four, where Fallen Angel will revert to her Classic-winning distance initially, with her return pencilled in for Newbury on May 17.

Burke said: “She’s in great order and I’m very happy with her. She will head to the Lockinge and then to Royal Ascot and she looks to be in great shape.

“At the moment we will stick to a mile with her, I do think she will stay a mile and a quarter but I do think a stiff mile and a fast-run mile is ideal for her as well on a galloping track.

“There is obviously the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot, but depending on what happens in the Lockinge there is also the Group Two, the Duke of Cambridge Stakes, at Ascot and she would have entries in both races I would have thought.”

As well as Fallen Angel, Royal Ascot-winning juveniles Shareholder and Leovanni are others among Burke’s Spigot Lodge string to carry the Wathnan old gold and peacock blue silks.

Both formed part of the Qatar-based operation’s memorable Ascot four-timer last summer, when claiming the Norfolk and Queen Mary Stakes respectively, and their handler is looking forward to welcoming them back to his Middleham yard.

Burke added: “They are not back yet, but they are due to come back soon – they’ve had a couple of little issues over the winter so have just taken a bit longer to arrive back here.

“Shareholder could be back in the next week or two and Leovanni probably a few weeks after that.

“They are two high-class horses and we will be delighted to see them back in the yard. Shareholder especially should improve physically from two to three and it will be interesting to see what he’s looking like when he gets back.”