First step completed

Three-year-old Dubawi filly Nova Step wins Listed race at Deauville on seasonal debut.

Nova Step, by Dalham Hall stallion Dubawi, won her first race of the season at her first attempt on March 17 when landing the 1300M Prix Ronde de Nuit at Deauville.

A very useful juvenile, she was a Stakes winner at Craon before finishing the season with an excellent third in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs over a mile. Starting off here at a trip short of her best, she needed every inch of the 1300M, only to fail to get up by a short-head. The winner, Mixed Intention, though was subsequently disqualified for interference. A step up in trip will now seem likely, potentially in either the English or French 1,000 Guineas, for which she holds entries in both.

Bred by Droesan Ltd, she is out of the ten-furlong Stakes winning dam Light Step and from a top-class family consisting of Eltish, Skimming, Wince and Quiff, to name but a few.

Dubawi, who stands this season for £55,000, has made the best start of any stallion to a stud career since the inception of the Pattern, siring 11 Group winners from his European crops, including the exceptional milers Makfi and Poet's Voice.