James Doyle may have missed a Group winner in France when his flight to Deauville failed to take off but parachuted in to Goodwood to pick up a valuable consolation prize in the Virgin Bet Prestige Fillies’ Stakes aboard Light Of Dawn.

Wathnan’s retained jockey had been due to fly to Normandy to partner Hamad Al Jehani’s Diego Ventura, winner of the Group Three Barriere Prix Quincey, only to be grounded at Duxford Airfield.

But after rerouting to the Sussex Downs, Doyle replaced Clifford Lee on the Showcasing filly and powered to a convincing success, landing the Group Three prize on the 4-1 shot by a length and a quarter from Eabha with the John and Thady Gosden-trained Baaeed filly Coaxed back in third.

“We got to the plane to go to Deauville but that didn’t take off but the plane to Goodwood was there so I switched over and I was quite lucky in that regard,” Doyle told Racing TV. “Obviously I’m delighted to get on her and I was very pleased with her.

“It worked out better than I could have wished for. The outside stall (in 10) was a bit of a concern because she is quite racy, so she needs a little bit of cover to help her switch off, but after going a furlong I was very comfortable.”

Trained by Karl Burke, Light Of Dawn had finished a creditable third in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot behind Libertango and Sun Goddess but had disappointed on faster ground at Deauville last time.

“She has done very little wrong in her short career. We took her to Deauville for what we thought was quite a nice race for her (Prix de Cabourg) but the ground was very quick that day so she didn’t enjoy that at all,” Doyle continued.

“We were keen to get her on a slower surface and this race seemed the obvious fit.

“In the Albany I felt I kicked a bit early with her because the whole field were congregating over towards the stands rail and I didn’t want to get trapped in and around the two furlong pole I let her roll and she was quite lonely from the two marker to half a furlong out and then two good fillies came over the top of me.

“But she was in good company that day and hopefully she can mix it with those again. Seven furlongs is not a problem. She is a big girl and I’m sure she will train on and be a better three-year-old so we will see what they want to do with her.”

He added: “It has been a big day for Wathnan though with Diego Ventura, Holguin winning in Germany and Leading Change in the Travers at Saratoga last night. It’s been a big weekend.”

By Racing TV

Photo: Focus On Racing