Touleen remains in Guineas mix despite Fred Darling defeat

A tilt at the 1000 Guineas remains under consideration for Touleen following her defeat at Newbury on Saturday.

The Owen Burrows-trained filly was favourite to make a successful start to her three-year-old campaign in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes – a Group Three better known as the Fred Darling – but she was unable to resist the late charge of Jack Channon’s Sukanya.

Touleen is a general 20-1 shot for the first fillies’ Classic of the season at Newmarket on Sunday week and with Burrows taking the positives out of her comeback effort, she could yet line up on the Rowley Mile.

“She’s come out of it fine. She ate up and trotted up well and had a little canter this morning,” the Lambourn handler told the Press Association.

“We were expecting a little bit more boot from her, but it was her first run of the year and some fillies are a bit more forward than others. It’s a tough spring and we had another frost again this morning, so it’s hard for them at the minute.

“We’ll see how she is through this week, I still wouldn’t rule out having a go (in the 1000 Guineas) if she was showing all the right signs.”

Should Touleen be given the green light to bid for Classic glory she will be tackling a mile for the first time, but Burrows is confident she will not lack for stamina.

He added: “Saffie (Osborne) said she was one of the last to pull up, so I’d be very, very surprised if she didn’t get it.

“Other than the result I was very pleased with her (on Saturday). She was a length and a quarter clear of the third filly and I loved the way she behaved beforehand, she was very relaxed and travelled great, so there were a lot of positives.”