Tag: Racing

Nashwa (6/5F) confirmed herself as one of the best fillies of her generation by running away with Thursday's G1 Qatar Nassau Stakes under Hollie Doyle, the first female jockey to win the 10-furlong showpiece at Goodwood.

Having raced in last early on, Nashwa made ground smoothly to challenge on the outside of runners in the straight before stretching away in the final furlong for an authoritative 1 3/4-length success. Aristia (40/1) posted a career-best in second, with Lilac Road (15/2) third after meeting trouble in running.

Nashwa, who carried Doyle into the history books when winning the Prix de Diane last month, is a fifth win in the race for trainer John Gosden and his first in partnership with son Thady.

John Gosden said: “We were drawn nine and we didn't want to get caught on the outside with daylight. We have relaxed in last and what they've done is suddenly pull the pace up. If you look at the fractions, they did two 14 second furlongs in the middle, which is as slow as you can go. Coming from last made it tough on her as they are quickening down the hill, but Nashwa has got the class and, when the ground levelled off, she was happier. She is versatile to do that from off the pace. I think next time we might have to put a pacemaker in.

“She has won with a bit in hand, but she is a grand filly who is improving all the time. Her owner-breeder Imad Al Sagar keeps pictures of her and she has changed a lot this year alone. I think we will stay in against the fillies in something like the Prix de l'Opera. I don't want to rush taking on colts this year, maybe next year.

“We tried over a mile and a half at Epsom and she didn't quite get the trip. She has won the Diane and the Nassau, so you can never ask for more from a filly. She has got the frame to improve again in the autumn and next year.

“Hollie Doyle is a star. She has an incredible work ethic. As a rider, she is very savvy and strong with great balance. She has the most wonderful personality, and she is so applied and focused – she is a credit to anybody in any line of work.”

Doyle said: “It is pretty awesome. She gave me some feel. A change of tactics today from France, but it paid off. Nashwa is A1, you can't fault her.

“I rode her aggressively in France because we had a good draw and I wanted to hold my position. Today, in between her work from her previous run, she now knows what she is doing, so I didn't want to light her up and ride her from a pace angle. Mr. Gosden told me to ride her that way today.

“I came down the hill with a double handful. She travels very well, but she takes a while to hit top gear. I was conscious about keeping her balanced down the hill. This is her perfect trip. She has a high cruising speed and sees it out very well. She is push button and you can ride her anywhere, which is really nice.

“Nashwa is a horse of a lifetime and if it wasn't for Imad Al Sagar for giving me this opportunity, I might not have enjoyed days like this. Every Group One means a lot, so you've got to enjoy it while it lasts, because you get home tonight and you'll be back into work mode for the next day. You have limited time to enjoy these moments.”

Winning owner Imad Al Sagar said: “Nashwa is a homebred and I must admit that I am very emotional when it comes to her. She is my first Classic homebred and I am very proud of her. It is significant as this is the future broodmare for Blue Diamond Stud. The important part is that I own the family. Her dam Princess Loulou is now in foal to Frankel, carrying a filly which makes her a full-sister to Nashwa.

“Talking about the season, we knew from her two-year-old career that she was special, but how special we did not know. Since April, she has developed physically and mentally very quickly. She demonstrated those skills at Haydock and at Newbury in a Listed race. In the Oaks, she was beaten three and a half lengths and ran out of stamina. We were going into unknown territory, but in the French Oaks, she demonstrated a beautiful performance and now her second Group One in the Nassau.

“Our target will be the Prix de l'Opera on Arc day and then the Breeders' Cup for the Filly & Mare Turf. She has had a busy season and we don't want to overdo it.

“What I saw in Hollie is what she demonstrated today, but two years ago. Hollie is a gifted jockey, very intelligent and very dedicated. She has proved that today. I've said that gender should have nothing to do with it. Either you have it or you don't.”

Richard Hannon said of the runner-up: “I am delighted. Aristia is always a filly that runs massively above what you were expecting. For some reason she did not come in her coat until well after Ascot. We have got her back right and she looks a million. She ran a super race and we have got the rest of the season to look forward to.

“She has finished second to an extremely good filly. Everything is an option now. She is a filly with an awful lot of scope. There are some lovely races coming up and I would love to hope that she will stay in training for next year.”

Maureen Haggas said of Lilac Road: “I thought she ran great. She did not get the smoothest run through, which often happens at Goodwood. In the last 50 yards she flew – I am thrilled with her. Looking at that, I think we could step her up to 12 furlongs happily.

“And she is getting better as she has never been easy beforehand. We went down first and she wasn't too bad today. She is settling in her races and has galloped right to the line. I don't know what plans there might be. She is well worth keeping at this standard, and William will find something and talk to Jon and Julia and work out a plan.”

The Qatar Nassau Stakes is part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

3.35pm Qatar Nassau Stakes (Group 1) (British Champions Series)
1 Nashwa (Imad Al Sagar) John & Thady Gosden 3-9-00 Hollie Doyle 6/5F
2 Aristia (Mrs E Roberts) Richard Hannon 4-9-09 Sean Levey 40/1
3 Lilac Road (Jon & Julia Aisbitt) William Haggas 4-9-09 Tom Marquand 15/2
8 ran

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Trainer Chad Brown will look to continue his rocket start at the Saratoga Race Course summer meet when saddling Grade 1-winners Early Voting and Zandon for Saturday's 59th renewal of the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy for 3-year-olds going nine furlongs on the main track.

The Jim Dandy is the traditional local prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers, to be run on August 27. A total of 11 horses have swept both races, including Essential Quality last year en route to Eclipse Honors for Champion 3-Year-Old. Other prominent winners of the Jim Dandy and Travers include Hall of Famer Arts and Letters [1969] as well as Medaglia d'Oro [2002], Bernardini [2006] and Street Sense [2007].

A winner of 3-of-4 lifetime starts, Early Voting arrives off a victory in the Grade 1 Preakness on May 21 at Pimlico Race Course, where he provided Brown and owner Klaravich Stables [Seth Klarman] with their second win in the middle leg of the Triple Crown.

The son of leading second-crop sire Gun Runner made his first three career starts at Aqueduct Racetrack, including a debut win in December followed by a victory in the Grade 3 Withers on February 5, where he defeated Un Ojo, a next-out winner of the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn Park.

Following a game runner-up effort to eventual Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets winner Mo Donegal in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino, Early Voting bypassed the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in favor of the Preakness.

Away alertly from the gate in the Preakness, Early Voting stalked the pace from second down the backstretch and matched strides with pacesetter Armagnac around the far turn. An open-lengths leader at the top of the stretch, Early Voting held off a late inside rally from returning rival Epicenter to win by 1 1/4 lengths, producing a field-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure.

“There was plenty of discussion [to run in the Kentucky Derby], but ultimately it looks like we made the right call to point to the Preakness,” Brown said.

Jeff Drown's Zandon arrives off nearly three-month's rest from a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs. The dark bay or brown son of third crop sire Upstart was placed toward the rear of the field down the backstretch of the 'Run for the Roses' making up considerable ground and battling to the outside of Epicenter down the stretch. But neither horse was able to fend off the inside rally from 80-1 upset winner Rich Strike.

Like his stable mate, Zandon also was a winner at first asking, capturing a six-furlong maiden special weight in October en route to a narrow second in the Grade 2 Remsen two months later at Aqueduct.

Commencing his sophomore season with a troubled third in the Grade 2 Risen Star in February at Fair Grounds Race Course, he made amends with a breakthrough victory in the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 9 at Keeneland en route to rounding out the Kentucky Derby trifecta.

“He's a pretty consistent horse and time has really done this horse well since the Derby,” Brown said. “We did the right thing for him. I love the way he's training. He's put some weight on and I expect him to run well Saturday.”

Brown believes both Zandon and Early Voting are amongst the highest echelon of 3-year-olds in what appears to be a strong crop.

“I really believe that they both have established themselves for quite some time now to be two of the top-five 3-year-old dirt colts in the country pretty consistently throughout most of the year,” Brown said. “The order might change around those top five and the fifth horse that's in that group might change a little bit, but they're consistently in that group. We're at the midway marker, so there's a lot more racing to take place and these horses are going to have to continue to maintain strong campaigns to stay in that group.”

Early Voting will be piloted by returning rider and two-time Jim Dandy winner Jose Ortiz from post 4, while Flavien Prat will guide Zandon for the third straight time from post 5. They will both carry a field co-high 124 pounds.

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter arrives at the Jim Dandy with vengeance following a close second in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness as the post-time favorite. The bay son of leading third crop sire Not This Time closed from eighth position in both races.

After finishing three-quarters of a length shy of victory in the Kentucky Derby, Epicenter was a deep-closing second in the Preakness, finishing 1 1/4 lengths in arrears of Early Voting.

Boasting a record of 8-4-3-0 and field-best earnings in excess of $1.9 million, Epicenter defeated Zandon in the Risen Star before capturing the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at the New Orleans oval.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who won the Jim Dandy with Kensei [2009] and Tenfold [2018], said he is hopeful that Saturday's race will be a successful pipeline to the Travers for Epicenter.

“It's his first run obviously back off the Derby and the Preakness, two hard races 14 days apart,” Asmussen said. “We're using the Jim Dandy as a prep for the Travers, which is his goal. The Jim Dandy will be his first run at Saratoga and should set us up for the Travers.”

Joel Rosario will ride Epicenter from post 2.

Trainer Brad Cox will aim for his second straight Jim Dandy victory after campaigning last year's winner Essential Quality when sending out dual graded stakes winner Tawny Port.

Owned by Peachtree Stable, the dark bay or brown son of Pioneerof the Nile defeated Grade 1 winner White Abarrio and next-out Grade 1 Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational winner Classic Causeway in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 25 at Thistledown. The one-length coup garnered a 90 Beyer and came seven weeks after finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby. He also captured the Grade 3 Lexington on April 16 at Keeneland.

Tawny Port commenced his career with a pair of victories over the all-weather surface at Turfway Park en route to a graded stakes caliber season.

“He's improving. He's been a horse that's been a little late to get to the races. He didn't make his debut until December,” Cox said. “He's going the right way and he seems to be doing really well up here. He's had three nice works and we'll see how he stacks up against this very good group we'll ask him to run against.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride from post 3.

Completing the field is dual winner Western River, who is cross-entered in Friday's $135,000 Curlin for trainer Rodolphe Brisset. The son of Tapit and full-brother to 2016 Belmont Stakes winner Creator enters off a first-level allowance victory going the Belmont Stakes distance on June 18 at Churchill Downs.

A maiden winner at fifth asking, Western River's lone stakes attempt came in the Grade 3 Peter Pan on May 14 over a sloppy and sealed main track at Belmont, where he finished fourth in a three-way photo for second.
Western River is owned by September Farm, Union Park Thoroughbreds, Black Fern, Michael Motley, Tammy Motley and Storyteller Racing.

Wester River will leave from post 1 under Ricardo Santana, Jr.

The Jim Dandy honors the infamous upset winner of the 1930 Travers, who captured the 'Mid-Summer Derby' at 100-1 odds against Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox and Whitney winner Whichone.

The Jim Dandy is slated as Race 9 on Saratoga's 11-race program, which also features the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in Race 8. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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