Godolphin's MG1SW Wild Illusion (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) will stay in training in 2019, trainer Charlie Appleby confirmed on Thursday. Landing the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac on her final start at two, the three-time Group 1 winner finished fourth in the G1 1000 Guineas on her return ahead of filling the runner-up spot in both the G1 Oaks at Epsom and G2 Ribblesdale S. at Royal Ascot. The decision to drop Wild Illusion back to a mile and a quarter proved a turning point following top-level victories in the G1 Nassau S. and G1 Prix de l'Opera, before she signed off the year with a second in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs earlier this month.
Appleby said, “Wild Illusion is staying in training next season and for sure it is nice to have these good older horses. She lost nothing in defeat in the Breeders' Cup and ever since her third run she has only raced at Group 1 level, except when running in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot. We will see how she is in the spring and what progress she is making, and then look at what races we will take in. She is good at a mile and a quarter and I don't see any reason why we should take her out of that sphere, as she has proven herself at the highest level over that trip.”
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