'She just loves to gallop' - Fallen Angel completes 1,000 Guineas double for Karl Burke with emphatic Curragh victory

Karl Burke was an international man of victory on Sunday, but there was no mystery attached to Fallen Angel's 1,000 Guineas success at the Curragh as last year's outstanding juvenile filly returned to her pomp to complete a glorious double for the Middleham trainer. 

Just 45 minutes earlier Darnation delivered in Dusseldorf when running away with the German equivalent and, if anything, Fallen Angel's success was even more emphatic when making the score 4-0 to Britain in this season's big Classic match with Ireland. 

It seemed somewhat inevitable at the two-furlong pole as last year's Moyglare Stud Stakes winner quickened from the front and nothing could land a glove on her from that point on. 

It was Classic compensation for the grey. Fallen Angel had been sent off favourite for the Qipco 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket but was only eighth of 16, nowhere to be seen at the business end. 

Burke and jockey Danny Tudhope were left scratching their heads afterwards, but a return to the Curragh and to more positive tactics did the trick. Fallen Angel is turning out to be the filly they always thought she was.

It has been a rough 12 months for Burke, who has been battling cancer, but he looks great and nothing could wipe the smile from his face as he tried to put into words a Sunday to savour. 

Karl Burke (left), with Danny Tudhope, Fabienne Parkin and Alice Kettlewell after Fallen Angel's Irish 1,000 Guineas successCredit: Patrick McCann

He said: "It's been an amazing day – that doesn’t happen very often. This is what we work for.

"I had cancer late last year and an operation and a bit of chemotherapy. I finished the chemo in December and since then it’s been back to work. We keep going and hopefully we’re all square.

"I never took a backwards step, you have to face what’s happening to you and worse things happen to a lot of other people, so you’ve just got to get on with it."

Burke has done just that in impressive fashion. He had Fallen Angel at the peak of her powers as she managed to erase the memory of her lacklustre Newmarket effort.  

The trainer said of his star filly: "She showed she was top class last year and we were disappointed after the Guineas at Newmarket, but it's so hard going to Newmarket and preparing a horse for the Guineas there. You just don't know where you are with them.

"She didn’t blow that much after Newmarket. The ground maybe was a bit quick on the undulations, but that’s looking for excuses – we were beaten fair and square on the day.

"I knew coming out of the Guineas and coming into this race that mentally she was in the right place. She just sparked up, especially in the last week or ten days, and physically she looked fantastic."

She looked fantastic in the race too. Tudhope kept it simple. He knew he was on the best filly and she would be hard to pass – she never was.  

The winning jockey said: "She was back to her old self today. She felt like the filly I rode last year. Newmarket was just a bit of a blip. Look, we may have got tactics wrong, but at the same time I don't think she handled the track at Newmarket, or the ground. She's a filly who stays very well and I'm sure she'll stay ten furlongs.

"She's very honest, she keeps trying and keeps giving you everything. She just loves to gallop."

Danny Tudhope celebrates after victory on Fallen AngelCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

A Lilac Rolla did best of the home team, enhancing her reputation despite losing her unbeaten record, while the returning Prix Marcel Boussac winner Opera Singer shaped with plenty of encouragement in third. 

O'Brien was absolutely chuffed with Opera Singer, saying: "I was delighted with her and I couldn't believe she ran so well. She was never away and was only in full work a little over a month ago, or even less than a month. We'll look forward to the next day and I'd say that will be the Coronation Stakes at Ascot."

She was pushed out to 4-1 (from 100-30) by Paddy Power for that, and could meet Fallen Angel again there. She was cut to 7-2 favourite (from 12), although Burke seems to be favouring the French Oaks. 

"I don’t know about Royal Ascot for her," Burke said. "We’ll have to have that discussion. We’ve got the option of the French Oaks as well and as you can see she stays very well. We’ll enjoy today and worry about that later."

Burke will struggle to have many better Sundays than this one, so he had better enjoy it. It was an international masterclass. 

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