Jennifer Jane powers clear in Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket

Jennifer Jane did more than land a Listed prize at Newmarket. She made a statement, bowling along in front in the Oliver Brown Pretty Polly Stakes and stretching six lengths clear over 1m2f to turn a traditional Oaks pointer into a breakout performance.

The Charlie Johnston filly, sent off at 11-2, was sharp from the break, seized the lead immediately and never gave Sacred Ground or the rest of the six-runner field a chance to close the gap. Silvestre de Sousa had her in a rhythm from the outset, and once Jennifer Jane committed turning for home, the race was over long before the line. She stopped the clock in 2:03.00 and collected £34,026 from the £60,000 prize fund.

That manner of victory mattered as much as the margin. Jennifer Jane had already shown ability without looking like a finished product, winning a maiden at Wetherby by 5½ lengths on June 19, 2025, then going on to finish a neck second in the Listed Star Stakes at Sandown on July 24, 2025, after again making the running. Her only major setback came when she was seventh of seven in the Group 3 Prestige Fillies’ Stakes at Goodwood on Aug. 24, 2025, but Newmarket was a different filly entirely. She travelled with authority, controlled the pace and kept finding up the hill.

For Charlie Johnston, the result also broke a long drought. The stable had not won the Pretty Polly since Marie de Medicis in 2010, so Jennifer Jane ended a 16-year wait in a race that often points toward bigger summer targets. The timing only sharpened the significance, because she is not yet engaged in the Epsom Oaks. That leaves the door open for connections to decide whether this was a career-best at the right trip or the first sign of a filly ready for a much higher level.

Bred by Rathbran House Stud and Rosetown Bloodstock, Jennifer Jane is by New Bay out of Enlace, by Shamardal, and is owned by Russell Trew and Townbraccan. Her Racing Post figure moved her to an official rating of 99 after the win, a mark that now matches the eye test: this was not a narrow black-type strike, but a dominant, front-running display from a filly who may have just moved into the summer conversation for real.