Well-related two-year-old filly Bellacontte was sent out a short-priced favourite at Hastings this afternoon and the weight of expectation didn’t weigh her down.
The Chrissy Bambry-trained daughter of Burgundy comfortably opened her winning account at her third appearance off the back of a trial success earlier this month.
Bellacontte settled behind the pace on the rail before rider Sarah McNab eased her off the fence before the turn and, under hands and heels urging, proved too good in the run home.
She was placed in her first two outings for owner Ben Kwok, including a third placing from the outside gate in the Listed Castletown Stakes, and today’s performance strongly suggested she is a black-type winner in waiting.
The filly also has the pedigree to back her claims as a daughter of the Tavistock mare Devon Doll, who is a half-sister to the G2 Thousand Guineas Prelude winner Legless Veuve.
She is a sister to the G3 Mannerism Stakes winner Tootsie, dam of the multiple Group 2 winner Ocean Emperor and this is notably the family of the multiple Group 1 winners Probabeel and Savvy Coup.