Horse Profile: Cinderella’s Dream and Beautiful Love

Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf Scouting Report

(Editor's note: Originally published in the 2024 BRISnet Breeders' Cup International Report) 

The Godolphin duo can be judged on their respective efforts in New York, but it might help to view them through the international lens. 

Cinderella’s Dream rates the better of the Charlie Appleby pair on paper, in light of their head-to-head match-up as well as her Grade/Group 1 races that Beautiful Love has yet to contest. On the other hand, Beautiful Love has two talking points that Cinderella’s Dream lacks: she’s proven at the 1 3/8-mile trip, and she has recency in her favor. 

The two met during the Dubai Carnival, when both made their seasonal reappearance in the Feb. 2 Jumeirah Fillies Classic. While Beautiful Love had twice as much experience as a juvenile, Cinderella’s Dream was the one favored to continue her winning sequence. That’s because zipping about seven furlongs around Meydan figured to suit her better. 

At two, Cinderella’s Dream had justified odds-on favoritism in her seven-furlong unveiling on the Lingfield turf. Despite jumping the path early on, she rallied from last to win by a measured neck, with ears pricked. She wasn’t seen again for three months, but made it 2-for-2 in a one-mile Thirsk novice, having to be asked more from a stalking spot and finding more than enough.

In contrast, Beautiful Love had placed in her seven-furlong maidens, albeit in better company. She was a troubled third as the favorite to future Group 1-placed See the Fire in her debut over Newmarket’s July Course, and next time, she was second to another useful filly, Classical Song, at Sandown. 

Only once Beautiful Love stepped up in trip over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile did she score her first win, hitting her best stride up the rising ground. She tired to fourth in the Nov. 4 Montrose Fillies’ S. over the same course and distance, but on heavy going. A riderless horse barreling in front of her early didn’t help, and Beautiful Love may have gotten lit up a bit in consequence. 

Thus Cinderella’s Dream had the likelier profile to prosper on the cutback in the Jumeirah Fillies Classic, and so it proved. She and Beautiful Love were both off a beat slow and unhurried in the back, but Cinderella’s Dream had the gears to quicken faster and storm past Frost at Dawn (Filly & Mare Sprint). 

Beautiful Love stayed on strongly for second, 2 3/4 lengths clear. Back up to a metric mile two weeks later at Meydan, she crushed males as the heavy favorite. Beautiful Love again didn’t break in a hurry, but soon advanced to midpack, and lengthened stride down the lane in a six-length demolition job. That was her last start abroad before joining Appleby’s New York detachment. 

Cinderella’s Dream added another Carnival win in the March 2 Jumeirah 1000 Guineas, even though her saddle slipped early and created a carnival-like ride. William Buick had to come out of the stirrups, sit upright on her back, and let his legs dangle like the painting of a 19th-century jockey to stay balanced. With all of that going on, Cinderella’s Dream raced to the front while wide on the far turn. Yet she still drew off by five lengths down the stretch to extend her perfect record. 

Hoping to emulate last year’s Jumeirah queen, Mawj, in Newmarket’s 1000 Guineas (G1), Cinderella’s Dream sustained her lone loss when seventh. She appeared to be traveling well just off the pace for a long way, but failed to pick up at the decisive stage. Appleby later said that Newmarket’s Rowley Mile was riding a bit slower than good, and she certainly underscored her fondness for quick conditions at Aqueduct and Saratoga. 

Cinderella’s Dream can make a pedigree case to handle the 1 3/8-mile distance on a flat, tight track. By Shamardal and out of a Dubawi mare, Cinderella’s Dream is a granddaughter of High Heeled, the third-placer in the 2009 Epsom Oaks (G1) who later defeated males (including Harbinger) in the St Simon (G3). This is the further family of Irish classic winner Just the Judge, heroine of the 2014 E.P. Taylor (G1) and third in the Filly & Mare Turf.

Beautiful Love has no need to make pedigree claims, but she is well-bred herself. The daughter of Siyouni and the Group 3-winning Dubawi mare Powder Snow hails from the family of the great Lammtarra.