Lady Aurelia

As a yearling in September 2015, Lady Aurelia was consigned to the Keeneland Sales and was bought for $350,000 by George Bolton & Peter Leidel although Stonestreet retained an interest in the filly.

[6] Lady Aurelia's dam D' Wildcat Speed was a Kentucky-bred mare who had great success in Puerto Rico before returning to the United States as a five-year-old to win the Rampart Stakes.

[7] She was a distant, female-line descendant of the influential British broodmare Affection, who was the ancestor of numerous major winners including Creme Fraiche, Coastal and Nathaniel.

[8] Lady Aurelia made her track debut at Keeneland on 21 April when she was one of six juvenile fillies to contest a maiden race over four and a half furlongs on dirt.

Ward had an excellent record at the meeting and had won the Queen Mary with Jealous Again in 2009 and Acapulco in 2015 but the prevailing soft ground was not expected to suit Lady Aurelia.

"[11] For her next race, Lady Aurelia was sent to France for the Group One Prix Morny over 1200 metres at Deauville Racecourse on 21 August and was made the 2/7 favourite.

She led from the start and although she was unable to open up a clear advantage she was "always in command" and won by three quarters of a length and a head from Alrahma and Peace Envoy.

[16] On 24 September Lady Aurelia, with Dettori again in the saddle, started the 4/6 favourite for the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes over six furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse.

"[18] A few days after the race, Ward explained to England's Press Association that "when we got back to the barn, the vet scoped her and she ended up having bled with a score of three out of five, which, in a group I, is enough to get you beat, probably.

"[19] Lady Aurelia started her three-year-old season on 15 April as the even money favourite in the Listed Giant's Causeway Stakes at Keeneland, where she faced a full field of older fillies and mares.

Lady Aurelia started second favourite behind the British mare Marsha, while the other sixteen runners included Goldream and Profitable, the winners of the last two runnings of the race.

She breezed seven more times before she was entered in the Giant's Causeway Stakes on April 14 at Keeneland, where she finished a solid 2nd beaten by 1+1⁄2 lengths by Triple Chelasea.

On June 19 in the GI King's Stand Stakes, Lady Aurelia ran a disappointing 7th, after the race her jockey John Velazquez said: "She seemed to handle the ground well, she just didn't fire."

[24] In the official European Classification of two-year-olds for 2016, Lady Aurelia was given a rating of 121, making her the best juvenile filly of the season, one pound the top-rated colt Churchill .

[25] Following her King's Stand Stakes win, Timeform gave her a rating of 135, placing her just 1 lb below such successful female sprinters as Black Caviar and Habibti.