A fabulous flat season for Jessica Harrington was capped on Saturday when Millisle took out the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket.

Sent off at 16/1, the daughter of Starspangledbanner looked like one of the first beaten when she was pushed along early in the race by Shane Foley, however she picked up supremely well to surge to the front late on, proving too strong for the favourite Raffle Prize.

Harrington has had a remarkable year with her juvenile fillies and on that account, this was a well deserved Group 1.

After the race, she said: “We were very frightened in March as we couldn’t find a bad one and you just wonder whether they are all useless!”

Millisle saw out the six-furlong trip very well but whether she can stretch out to a mile for the 1000 Guineas back at Newmarket next season is questionable. If not, she will have lots of options over five and six furlongs.

From an Irish perspective, the Cheveley Park contrasted sharply with the colts’ equivalent Group 1 on the card, the Middle Park Stakes, where the Ger Lyons-trained Siskin had to be withdrawn after he tumbled over in the stalls just before the race. Luckily both horse and jockey Colin Keane were not seriously injured.

The race went to Andre Fabre’s Earthlight, who alongside Pinatubo further strengthened Godolphin’s grip on next year’s classic generation.

At home, Aidan O’Brien won a ninth Group 2 Beresford Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday when Innisfree saw off Dermot Weld’s Shekhem.

Japan was O’Brien’s winner of the race last season and is viewed by many as the main rival to Enable on her quest for an historic third Arc at ParisLongchamp this Sunday.