Michael Owen is dreaming of bigger days having seen his homebred It Ain’t Two get on the scoresheet in the bet365 EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket.

Trained by Hugo Palmer, her half-brother Balon D’Or hit the target at the first attempt last season, but odds of 18-1 perhaps told the true tale of expectation as the daughter of Calyx showed plenty of ability in the five-furlong event.

Balon D’Or would go on to run at the former England international’s beloved Chester May Festival and It Ain’t Two could now follow suit.

Owen said: “Her brother won first time out at this time last year and we’ve obviously come to a trickier place in terms of quality, but you would have to be delighted with that, it’s a nice surprise.

“Lots of horses were fancied before the race, so we weren’t that confident, just because of what people were saying about theirs, but she’s a homebred filly and you have to start thinking of black type now. It will be interesting and a nice surprise and it will have us thinking in a different way.

“Normally with one of mine, I’m thinking maiden, Lily Agnes and Ascot. That’s the dream passage but we’ll see and, as she is a homebred and I have the mare at home, we may have to think of something else. It’s nice problems to have.”

The “something else” the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker references could be the Marygate Stakes at York, with It Ain’t Two’s trainer eyeing an immediate step up into Listed company.

“We took her for a racecourse gallop at Wolverhampton about a month ago and she got lapped, so I thought I best run her as soon as possible,” said Palmer.

“We came here for some nice ground, as it was going to get called off at Redcar!

“Now she’s a winner, I guess we will go to York and try and finish in the top three in the Marygate.”

The Each Way Extra At bet365 EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes has been won by some useful operators over the years and Kevin Ryan’s Bolsena could have more to come after opening her account at the fourth attempt in the hands of Ryan Moore.

Moore was also in the saddle aboard Juddmonte’s Kalpana, who showed a clean pair of heels to surge clear of her rivals in the Price Promise At bet365 Handicap.

The Andrew Balding-trained 11-2 winner could now have a return to the Rowley Mile on her agenda, before connections consider even bigger assignments in the future.

“She has had two very good runs and the horse who beat her the last day of Kevin Ryan’s (Inisherin) could be potentially a very, very good horse,” explained Barry Mahon, European racing manager for the owners.

“We were a bit disappointed that day, but today’s performance shows we probably bumped into a very good horse.

“Andrew has liked her all the time and we thought a step up to 10 furlongs (next time) might bring about improvement and Ryan just said there, she might be a filly who could get 12 furlongs later in the season. We were hopeful of a good run and she definitely did well.

“We will maybe look at the Pretty Polly. She handled the track well and Ryan thought she would be versatile enough ground-wise, so we will look at that if she comes out of this one well.

“We’ll take small steps and if she showed up well in the Pretty Polly, we could consider the Oaks, but we’ll go small steps and see how we go.”

The opening race of the day went the way of Richard Hannon’s Dark Thirty, with the versatile operator proving as consistent as ever when notching up his fourth career success.

“He’s a genuine Saturday horse and one that is very useful. He will win us races every year and it gives us a lot of pleasure.” said Hannon.

Stenton Glider produced a fine run to finish second to all-the-way winner Habana in the German 1000 Guineas at Dusseldorf on Sunday.

The Hugo Palmer-trained daughter of Dandy Man, who was well held by Mawj in the English equivalent in soft ground at Newmarket on her previous run, the Fred Darling runner-up showed her true metal with a powerful display under Andrea Atzeni.

From an unpromising wide draw in stall 10, Atzeni was forced to make more use of her than he would lave liked early in the mile contest in order to get a good position.

Stenton Glider settled well in third behind the Andreas Wohler-trained Habana and although briefly losing momentum as they crossed the path shortly after turning for home, she stayed on well to take second ahead of the Charlie Appleby-trained Dream Of Love, who was sent off the 6-4 favourite under William Buick.

“That’s the luck of the draw, but the two big questions we wanted answered going there was whether she was a miler and whether she would handle fast ground,” said Palmer.

“They were giving the ground as good, but both Andrea Atzeni and William Buick both agreed the ground was firm, it may have been good to firm.

“She skipped off it and her best furlong was her last furlong, and she has now shown Group form on firm ground and heavy ground, and I’m sure she will be fine on anything in between, so that’s a massive box ticked for us.

“The winner had the run of the race and kicked clear – and the winner is clearly a very good filly – but she kicked clear when we were still behind horses turning for home.

“We were never going to catch her, but we were reducing the deficit all the time, and we’re obviously delighted with how she has run. Hopefully, her first stakes victory won’t be far away.”

Though beaten three lengths by Eduardo Predroza’s mount, there was plenty to like about the fillies who filled the places, and Palmer, who had won the Group Two contest twice before with Hawksmoor (2016) and Unforgetable Filly (2017), has not ruled out a trip to Royal Ascot with Stenton Glider.

He added: “This is the first time she has run on fast ground and Andrea said that when she went to let down on it, it was a new sensation for her and she just took a stride or two to hit top gear and realise she did enjoy it, and could handle it. She stretched all the way to the line.

“That path is a very difficult challenge of the race, like the ridges at the bottom of the hill at Sandown.

“I remember when we won it before, James Doyle made a particular issue of it. He was more prominent than we were today and he made sure that as soon as he crossed the path on the bridle, he kicked and took the momentum away form the others. It is one of the idiosyncrasies of the track.

“We weren’t in that position and we were chasing, so we had to go from there, but I’m absolutely delighted.

“We will see what the handicapper does, if we didn’t move too much and she came out of the race OK, then the Sandringham would still be a possibility.

“Potentially, there’s the Listed race at Carlisle (Eternal Stakes, over an extended six and a half furlongs) at the end of the month.

“I’ve always thought the Dick Hern at Haydock in early August might suit her very well. I suppose potentially the Thoroughbred Stakes at Goodwood – I’m talking off the top of my head – she could take on colts.

“The priority is she needs to be a stakes winner. Once she is, then the world really is her oyster. Then we can have fun – not that we are not having fun at the moment!”

Buick was far from unhappy with the performance from Dream Of Love, who had been a place and a length in front of Stenton Glider when 12th in the fillies’ Classic at Newmarket.

Prominent near the rail throughout, she stuck to her task well to finish two-and-a-quarter lengths further back in third.

Buick said: “She ran very well. I thought it was a competitive race on fast ground.

“Everything went smooth and she has probably taken another step up on what she has achieved in the past.”