Large-scale acquisition Run Away's career took off like a rocket as the Blackbeard sister demonstrated her resilience by surviving Cat Ninja's late-night attack at Yarmouth.
The No Nay's daughter Never went under the knife for €2.6 million as a yearling, part of the bloodstock agent Richard Knight's extravagant buying spree for Derby-winning owner Saleh Al Homaizi, which saw him purchase stock valued at over £20 million.
She was then privately sold to a partnership consisting of Qatar Racing, Ecurie des Monceaux, and David Howden, and Andrew Balding began her training, but payment was not forthcoming.
Untried at two, she was tipped off at 7-1 for her racecourse debut in the QuinnBet App Maiden Fillies’ Stakes, and under jockey Oisin Murphy's guidance, she gained prominence fast.
By the time the field reached the three-furlong marker, she was leading the race with great speed. However, within the last two furlongs of the seven-furlong event, the 5-2 favourite, Red Pixie, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, approached her with a menacing run.
Run Away demonstrated her class to repel that attack, but no sooner had Red Pixie’s momentum begun to falter, the quick-witted Cat Ninja entered the fray with aplomb. The half-sister to Cachet, trained by John and Thady Gosden, made the winner work extra hard to secure a neck victory.
“We loved her as a yearling at the sales but just couldn’t afford to buy her and we were fortunate enough to put together a team to buy her at a bit of a discount later on in the year after the previous buyer failed to come up with the money,” explained Qatar Racing’s David Redvers.
“It was still a significant investment for a beautiful filly and as a result, it is always quite nerve-wracking when they go down to the start. She’s a really exciting filly going forward and we’ll obviously have to discuss with Andrew where he wants to go and what he wants to do, but that is the first exam out of the way. The race had a tasty look to it when you looked at the betting and what was happening to the prices of a few of the others. It was one of those three-year-old maidens where horses have clearly come forward well over the winter and it is better than the bare form of those that have run. We were pleased to see her do it as well as she did. We have ambitions that she is a genuine stakes filly and that was a very good first step.”