A gelding like you have never seen before returns at Meydan this evening

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One of racing's most extraordinary horses returns to action at Meydan this evening for the first time since being gelded.

'So what?' you might reply. 'Many horses are gelded every day. What's so special about this one?'. Well, this gelding is a filly.

You may remember the horse in question, Flamingo Girl, who gained a certain notoriety a couple of years ago after being stripped of a Group 3 victory in Italy due to elevated levels of testosterone.

Trained at the time by Henk Grewe in Germany, Flamingo Girl, who up to that point had been regarded as a talented filly, was in fact a hermaphrodite, meaning she possessed both female and male sexual organs.

As she had aged, her internal testicles had developed and, as a result, were producing levels of testosterone that were above those permitted for a filly.

Prior to that, there had been no reason to suspect anything abnormal about Flamingo Girl, who had won at Listed level and competed in the 2020 Group 1 German Oaks at Dusseldorf won by the John Gosden-trained Miss Yoda.

Speaking to my colleague, Lambourn correspondent James Burn, in late 2021, Grewe had indicated how it would be relatively easy to castrate the filly (yes, you read that right) and the result would hopefully be that her testosterone levels would drop to an acceptable level to allow her to start competing again.

It seems that wasn't to be, as this evening she lines up in the Azizi Riviera Handicap (5.30) over a mile on the turf at Meydan in Dubai for new trainer Doug Watson. What's more, she will be racing as a gelding and not a filly.

Doug Watson: new trainer of Flamingo GirlCredit: Francois Nel (Getty Images)

Explaining how he came to have Flamingo Girl in his yard, Watson says: "One of my old owners, Justin Byrne at EERC, told me about her as she'd been recommended to him. The situation was explained to me and we were told she hadn't been able to run in Germany because of it, but we thought we'd take a chance.

"Her old owners wanted her to carry on and get the chance to perform somewhere but it's not straightforward. Due to what's happened with her, she has to run here as a gelding and that's tough as she's mostly run against fillies, as a filly, so we'll have to see how it goes."

Watson and I refer to Flamingo Girl as "she" throughout our conversation, which of course goes against how she is now classified by authorities in Dubai, which is as a "he".

It is confusing and frustrating, not least for those closest to Flamingo Girl. Indeed, when asked the obvious question about how this horse looks, given her male sexual components had developed, Watson is unequivocal in terms of answering.

"She's a filly, and she's a good looking filly too," he says. "She behaves like a filly, but it's not as straightforward as that as we all know. She's been very settled over here, she's got a lovely attitude and we'll just have to see where we can get to with her."

Watson feels Flamingo Girl has been further handicapped by her rating, she runs off a mark of 99 this evening, whereas he thinks her European form is closer to 97. That is without taking into account that fillies' races are not an option for the six-year-old.

As such, it is straight into the fire of the Dubai World Cup Carnival for Flamingo Girl, with the Maktoum family and their associates having their usual strong hand, headlined by the Charlie Appleby-trained Echo Point and Sense Of Wisdom.

Given Flamingo Girl's rating, affinity for turf (she took some time to adjust to Watson's dirt-only training facility) and the available races this contest is being viewed very much as a starting point.

"She's been very settled since she's come over here and has worked well up until the race, so we'll see how it goes," says Watson. "The turf here is more good, good to firm, and her best form seems to be on softer ground so we'll have to see how she goes.

"Apart from a couple of lower-stakes races on the dirt at Jebel Ali, there isn't really anything she would be eligible for in terms of handicaps, so that's why we have to go straight into this race against the likes of Godolphin. Hopefully she'll run a nice race and we can get on the road with her."

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content