'She felt like a filly worth a shot at the top level' - Tiffany gets Sir Mark Prescott's big weekend off to a flyer with Group 3 win

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Sir Mark Prescott kicked off a huge weekend on both sides of the Irish Sea in the best possible way when the progressive Tiffany won the Group 3 Hoppings Fillies' Stakes at Newcastle on Friday evening.

Fresh from saddling his first Royal Ascot winner since 1996 last week, Prescott got a timely boost for Saturday's assault on the Group 1 Pretty Polly at the Curragh with Tasmania and a two-pronged attack on the Northumberland Plate headed by favourite Trooper Bisdee.

The Jenningsbet-backed Hoppings has a rich history of producing subsequent Group 1 scorers, including with the last two winners Al Husn and Poptronic, and Tiffany looked worthy of that company after charging clear under Luke Morris.

"She's a very smooth-travelling filly who you can ride where you want and I rode her to hopefully outstay them and she was very dogged to the line," said the winning jockey. 

"She's gradually grown in confidence and she felt like a filly who is well worth a shot at the top level off that run."

Tiffany: could be set to for a return trip to GermanyCredit: John Grossick

The Elite Racing Club-owned 7-2 winner, who has August entries in the Nassau Stakes – for which she was cut to 12-1 (from 20) by Paddy Power – and Yorkshire Oaks, started handicapping off a mark of 72 less than a year ago and shot up the ratings with Listed wins in Germany on either side of the winter.

Prescott's Arc heroine Alpinista was a multiple Group 1 winner in Germany and a return to that country could be on the cards for Tiffany. 

"There are plenty of them who have progressed from that route and there are obviously fillies' Group 1s on the continent and in England," added Morris. "I'm sure Sir Mark has got a plan mapped out and hopefully she can cut her teeth at the top level."

Darnation, who finished two and a half lengths behind the winner, looks set to head back to Germany herself, having won the 1,000 Guineas at Dusseldorf last month.

"I'm delighted with the run and we've been beaten by a very good filly," said trainer Karl Burke. "She's favourite for the German Oaks at Dusseldorf on August 4 over a mile and three [furlongs] and I didn't want to jump straight up from a mile.

"She'll go there now, all being well, and after that she's in the Yorkshire Oaks and we'll just play it by ear. It depends on the ground as much as anything, as she doesn't want it fast."

Read more...

Sir Mark Prescott's great handicap coups: four of the best for the master of Heath House 

'He was a copper!' - Sir Mark Prescott, a timid driver and a run-in with the law 

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