Charlie Appleby enjoyed a successful Saturday at Newmarket with three winners on the card including Dance Sequence in the 7f Class 4 Blandford Bloodstock Maiden Fillies' Stakes.
Making her debut for the yard alongside stablemate Race The Wind, the filly was slowly away but kept in touch by jockey William Buick at the rear of the field.
With a furlong-and-a-half to go, there were four fillies spread across the track in with a chance, but Dance Sequence, who made her bid up the far side, displayed a nice turn of foot to quicken clear approaching the half-furlong marker.
Once left in front, the filly pricked her ears and needed to be kept up to the task by Buick, but the half-length victory never looked in doubt.
Dance Sequence was immediately given quotes of 33-1 for the 1000 Guineas next spring and Charlie Appleby's post-race interview confirmed her promise.
"The mindset, although she was favourite, sometimes you want to be nearer to the fore than at the back," said Appleby.
"William and I both were in agreement, she is a filly for the future and ride her to do it the right way round. William just rode her with a lot of confidence. She was a bit green early doors anyway, and she wouldn't have done very much of that at home to be fair to her.
"There will be a marked improvement from that. To come off the pace like that, you can probably mark that performance up a little bit more, so that was a pleasing debut.
"But, yes, she is one of the better ones. The attributes are there. She is a Dubawi, she's got the scope, the pedigree and she has apparently got the engine, to date.
"There is a big step to go to the Guineas, but it's a good start. She has a lovely attitude. You like them to do it like that – she's learned plenty today and it is all very well winning by 10 lengths, but you don't learn very much."
Dance Sequence is a filly with a pedigree to match her ability, hailing from the same family as Nathanial. Her Listed winning dam Tearless (Street Cry) has already produced two Black Type performers in Romantic Song (Shamardal) and New Comedy (Sea The Stars).
Second dam Playful Act is a half-sister to sire Nathanial (Galileo) and a full-sister to Percussionist (Sadler's Wells), who was successful in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup on the flat before transitioning to a hurdling career, where he won the American Grand National.
Trained by John Gosden, Playful Act was a leading juvenile with victories in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes and Group 1 Fillies Mile and placed second in the Group 1 Irish Oaks as a three-year-old. Dance Sequence's dam Tearless was one of three Group performers from Playful Act – she was also responsible for Grade 3 Orchid Stakes winner Anjaz (Street Cry) and Grade 2 New York Stakes heroine Giants Play (Giant's Causeway). Both mares have been sent to Dubawi with Black Type success, making it no surprise that the same logic was applied to Tearless.
