Lord Lloyd Webber’s cleverly named Dar Re Mi shed her maiden tag in fine style with an impressive seven-length rout of some notable opposition in the ten-furlong Maiden Fillies’ Stakes at Sandown on Friday.
A daughter of Singspiel from the Top Ville mare Darara, who numbers the high class mile-and-a-half winners River Dancer (formerly Diaghilev), Darazari and Dariyoun among her offspring, Dar Re Mi had some equally well-bred pursuers trailing in her wake, including Albarouche, by Sadler’s Wells out of Alakananda, who topped the Goffs Million Sale two years ago. Her sensational all-the-way victory saw her surge to the head of the Oaks betting market with quotes as short as 8/1 favourite for the fillies’ Classic at Epsom on 6 June.
Bred by the Lloyd Webbers’ Watership Down Stud in Berkshire and trained by John Gosden, whose stable is currently in excellent form, Dar Re Mi had had just one previous run when second in a Newmarket maiden last November.
