See The Fire proved a cut above her rivals when running out a sparkling winner of the Middleton Stakes at York on Thursday.

Andrew Balding's filly See The Fire showed a scorching turn of foot to clear away from her rivals under Oisin Murphy, who was keen to bide his time on the 8/11 favourite on the Knavesmire.

The pair could be spotted travelling extensively kindly in behind runners coming down the straight, and in all truth, it was just a matter of time before Murphy pushed the button.

The talented four-year-old cruised into a clear advantage with a couple of furlongs to travel and although she was only under hands and heels riding from Murphy, the gap continued to grow and grow.

Charlie Appleby's Beautiful Love put in some good late work to win the battle for the second spot, but she ultimately wasn't in the same league as See The Fire, who went on to prevail by a staggering twelve lengths.

Balding said: "That was smashing, we've always had a very high opinion of her, and she's improved since last year.

"We probably made a bit of a mess of her last year as we didn't step up in trip until it was too late. For some reason, she wasn't at her best in the Eclipse, but she really found her feet after that, winning the Strensall here and she had a very good run on Champions Day having had a busy season.

"We were a little disappointed on her comeback run at Sandown, but she probably needed the run – she travelled well through the race and didn't quite get home, but that's put her spot-on for today."

Carrying the famous colours of Jeff Smith, See The Fire is out of the mare Arabian Queen, who caused a seismic shock on the Knavesmire a decade ago when gallantly denying Golden Horn at odds of 50/1 in the Juddmonte International.

On future targets for Jeff Smith's latest star, Andrew Balding pointed towards the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, although a return to York for the Juddmonte International in August could be on the agenda.

Balding added: "She's a very exciting horse and we always fancied the Nassau for her this year. She was second in it last year and if that goes well, we might consider coming back here in August for the Juddmonte International."