No fluke says Hughie Morrison after 200-1 Romsey runs close fifth in Guineas

Those closest to Romsey are used to her being underestimated, so a starting price of 200-1 for the Qipco 1,000 Guineas was hardly likely to put them off too much.

After all, the daughter of Mukhadram had failed to attract a bid as a yearling, being bought back by her breeder Alastair Macdonald-Buchanan for a paltry 800 guineas in the autumn of 2018.

She had already shown that to be good business with two wins as a juvenile, including a Listed success in Germany, and with a better run down into the Dip at Newmarket on Sunday she could have finished even closer than her eventual position of fifth, beaten a length and three-quarters for second.

"It was no fluke," said trainer Hughie Morrison, who is also part of the End-R-Ways Partnership along with Macdonald-Buchanan and a handful of octogenarian long-term supporters of his yard.

"She worked well last week with Starcat, who ran a cracker in the 2,000 Guineas before blowing up, and if she'd have come down the hill today I think she'd have been second."

Explaining how Romsey had slipped through the sales without attracting any attention, Morrison said: "If she'd have made 15 grand they would have sold her, but they didn't get a bid. She lacked substance at the sales but by the March of last year you wouldn't have recognised her.

"She's an absolute gem and it's a nice story, but it's bloody difficult finding ones like her."

Morrison will not shy away from high-level competition with Romsey. "She'll stay a mile and a quarter and as she already has black type we can aim high with her," he added.

"We wouldn't go to Epsom [for the Oaks] as she won't go down the hill, but we'd look for races over a stiff mile and a mile and a quarter and she'll be out in around a month."

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