Seal of Approval

Seal of Approval was unraced a two-year-old and made her racecourse debut on 29 June 2012 in a maiden race over ten furlongs at Doncaster Racecourse in which she started at odds of 50/1 and exceeded expectations as she finished second of the eleven runners. Two months later she was made the 11/10 favourite for a maiden over eleven furlongs on the polytrack surface at Kempton Park Racecourse. Ridden by Hayley Turner she tracked the leaders before taking the lead in the closing stages to win by half a length from Wannabe Loved.[7] She lost a shoe in the contest and returned from the race badly injured, with a puncture to the sole of her foot and a chipped pedal bone.[3]

On 3 July, after an absence of more than ten months, Seal of Approval began her 2014 campaign in a handicap race over one and a half miles on the polytrack at Kempton in which she was again partnered by Turner and equipped with a hood for the first time. Carrying 128 pounds and starting at 14/1 she came from well off the pace, took the lead inside the final furlong and won by half a length from Castilo del Diablo.[8] George Baker took the ride when the filly was stepped up in class for the Listed Chalice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse and started the 7/2 second favourite. After struggling to obtain a clear run in the straight she "squeezed" through in the final strides and won by a neck from Songbird.[9]

In the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster in September, Seal of Approval was in fourth place and appeared to be making good progress when she stumbled and fell after clipping the heels of the horse in front a furlong from the finish. Although Turner required immediate treatment, the filly got back to her feet and completed the course, apparently none the worse for the experience.[10] On 19 October on soft ground at Ascot Racecourse she contested the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, a race which had been elevated to Group 1 level for the first time, and started the 16/1 outsider in an eight-runner field. Talent, Hot Snap and Dalkala (Prix de l'Opéra) were made the 7-2 co-favourites with the other runners being Waila (Aphrodite Stakes), Nymphea (Grosser Preis von Berlin), Igugu (Durban July) and Belle de Crecy (Blandford Stakes). Ridden by Baker, Seal of Approval raced in fifth place before being switched to the outside to obtain a clear run in the straight. She took the lead approaching the final furlong and drew clear of the field to win by four lengths from Belle de Crecy.[11][12]

Seal of Approval made a fairly promising start as a five-year-old when running fourth in the Yorkshire Cup in May but ran poorly and finished unplaced when favourite for the Lancashire Oaks in July. She finished well to take third in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury in August and then ran fourth behind Silk Sari when favourite for the Park Hill Stakes. Despite her failure to win in 2014 she was made 4/1 favourite when she attempted to win a second British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot in October, but came home fifth of the ten runners behind the three-year-old Madame Chiang.[13]