Bermuda Racing will have plenty of money to spend during sales season in Europe after selling the horse named after Dame Flora Duffy.

Flora Of Bermuda, who can be backed at 12-1 to win one of Europe’s flagship sprint races, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Royal Ascot next week, has been sold for a huge seven-figure sum.

The filly has been purchased by Wathnan Racing, the thoroughbred operation of the Emir of Qatar, and she will remain in trainer Andrew Balding’s yard, where she is stabled in “Millionaire’s Row”, the home for Balding’s best and most expensive thoroughbreds.

Simon Scupham, founder of Bermuda Racing, wrestled with the decision to sell but finally acquiesced after the offer became too big to refuse.

"It is with a mixture of personal sadness, immense pride and huge excitement that we have sold our beloved and most special of fillies,“ he said.

"We are very excited that she will now finish her career racing in the Emir of Qatar’s Wathnan Racing, in whose silks we are sure she will achieve the Group 1 success she so much deserves.

“Hopefully she will also go on to a second successful career as a broodmare, where no doubt she will be supported with the very best stallions to give her the best chance of success.

"Given what Flora has achieved in her career, we simply came to the somewhat inevitable point where she was way too valuable for us to continue racing given all the inherent risks involved.

“The really good news though is that we can all still continue to marvel at her exploits on the track. She will always be Flora of Bermuda and will continue to be mentioned in dispatches. All being well, for some time yet to come she will keep Dame Flora Duffy and Bermuda truly on the global racing map."