Blue Bolt downs favourite Precise with dominant Falmouth Stakes performance

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No matter how sure you think you are of something in sport, you can never be completely certain until it has happened.

Such has been the frequency of Aidan O'Brien's success this year that it has almost reached the stage where everyone prepares themselves before an event to think of a new way to congratulate him on his latest victory.

That was certainly the narrative heading into the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes. For all it is not one of his most productive races – with Roly Poly being his most recent winner in 2017 – weekend after weekend, festival after festival, the results and dominance have conditioned us to expect another O’Brien coronation.

Yet, Precise, the dominant winner of the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, faltered. Sent off the 4-5 favourite, she never looked like winning, as another royal meeting scorer came to the fore.

Blue Bolt was hardly unfancied. As second favourite, the market positioned her as the one best placed to pounce if Precise did not bring her A-game to the July course. But to characterise her victory in such a manner would be distinctly unfair, because she bossed it.

Always travelling best, Blue Bolt simply had too many gears for Precise and, in a rare sight this season, it was the Ballydoyle contender who was left behind, needing to pull something unexpected out of the fire to win. She tried, but she had no answer.

Blue Bolt: followed up Royal Ascot success with a Group 1 win at Newmarket on FridayCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Winning trainer Andrew Balding and rider Colin Keane praised the filly without being gushing. Their reactions were those of professionals who had delivered what they expected could happen. Yet, there was no doubt about how they rated the winner.

Balding nominated the Group 1 Matron Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival, and potentially the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, as targets for Blue Bolt.

"She's getting better," he added ominously, in perhaps the only moment where the mask slipped during an otherwise measured response to questioning.

Keane, on the other hand, pointed to the filly’s striking physique as a reason to expect more.

“She’s a very big physical and to do what she did last year was special,” he said. “She’s getting better. What she did at Ascot was good, and this was even better.”

Blue Bolt: trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by Colin KeaneCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

A more tantalising target for Blue Bolt was dangled by Barry Mahon, racing manager to winning owners Juddmonte, who proposed that a trip to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup Mile could be in the offing. After all, as Mahon said himself, she has the physical strength to match any colt.

“Going into the race we thought the favourite was going to be hard to beat,” he said. “This filly showed last autumn she was a Group 1 filly when she chased home Fallen Angel.

“We started the season slow so not to have a penalty at Ascot as the second half of the season is where we wanted to be with her. We’ll work back from something like the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the season.”

For O’Brien, he will have others lying in wait for Blue Bolt down the line. While she may be in the ascendancy in the fillies' mile division for now, it would be unlike Ballydoyle to not be thinking about what comes next and how they can turn things back in their favour.

For Precise, it will likely not be in a race over a mile.

O’Brien said: “She has run very well but we've always thought she'd get further than this. We left her at a mile today as there was no reason to move her up, but the older filly was quicker than her through the middle part of the race and got away from her a little bit.

"It's possible she could go up to a mile and a quarter next time, but it won't be at Goodwood as we have Diamond Necklace for the Nassau."

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