'Relief is the primary word' - Sylvester Kirk delighted with smart Seattle Rock

Seattle Rock showed a class edge over her seven rivals to break her maiden at the eighth time of asking under Ryan Moore.

The daughter of Fastnet Rock is highly regarded by Sylvester Kirk and was pitched into the 1,000 Guineas on her previous start but had yet to get off the mark despite some promising runs in better company.

Despite her experience of Group-level racing, Seattle Rock was the 5-2 second favourite for division one of the mile fillies' novice, with the John and Thady Gosden-trained At A Pinch sent off at 15-8.

However, Moore looked comfortable as he stalked the pacesetting favourite through the middle of the race, with Seattle Rock reacting well to pressure late on to win by two lengths.

Kirk said: "Relief is the primary word that springs to mind after that. She's been highly tried and it's always tricky when you go back in class looking for that first win.

"I know she flashed her tail late on but she's a pretty straightforward filly. It was good to get her to a galloping track and she appeared to get the mile well.

"Ryan was impressed with her and gave us a few ideas of what we could do with her. I'll have a chat with the owners first and from there we'll make a plan of where to go next."

Flair 'pretty good'

Creative Flair relished a step up in trip as she stayed on well in the closing stages of the Listed Betfair British EBF Stakes to hold off a resurgent Lilac Road.

Running over 1m2f for the first time, the daughter of Dubawi raced aggressively under William Buick and along with Lilac Road pulled clear of the remainder two furlongs out.

Buick said: "The ground is quick but she's quite an energetic filly and I was hoping that with a hood on for the first time she might be able to gear down.

Creative Flair (left): cut for the Ribblesdale after gutsy successCredit: Alan Crowhurst

"However, she wanted to get on with things and I just tried to contain her the best I could. She saved a bit for the finish and really stuck her head out when she had to battle late on."

The three-year-old has been in good form this season, winning a conditions race at Ascot before finishing second to Primo Bacio at York last month.

Paddy Power were impressed by the performance and cut Creative Flair to 14-1 (from 20) for the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot next Thursday.

Buick added: "She knows plenty about racing already and I think she's pretty good. She's hasn't run a bad race and even when she was beaten at York by a good-looking filly she stuck on well for second."

Buzzing atmosphere

Newbury is just one of those racecourses that needs spectators and it was superb to see and hear the enclosures abuzz with paying punters, members and owners once again.

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