Trainer Karl Burke has confirmed that Dandalla will not return to racing action until next spring.
The highly-rated two-year-old filly was a brilliant winner of the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and she followed that up with a gritty display when triumphing in the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket the following month.
However, the daughter of Dandy Man was soundly beaten into fifth on her return to Headquarters in the Cheveley Park Stakes on Saturday, although Burke felt that disappointing showing was more due to the conditions then the form of his filly.
“We think she ran a very similar race to what she did at the July meeting,” Burke was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “She changed her legs three times as soon as she started running downhill from the bushes, and just didn’t really lengthen.
“I’m not saying for one minute we would have got near the leaders, but it’s probably not her track.”
Burke went on to confirm that Dandalla will now be rested up for the rest of the year, but he is still expecting big things from her when she returns to action in the spring.
“We won’t run her again this year,” the trainer added. We’ll prepare her for a spring campaign and probably have a go at one of the seven-furlong Guineas trials and take the season from there.
“We think we’ve still got a very good filly for next year.”
