3 minute read
John Gosden looks like having a strong hand in the Qatar Nassau Stakes with both Shutter Speed and So Mi Dar on course for the Group One contest at Goodwood.
The three-year-old Shutter Speed will try to get her career back on track after suffering her first defeat in four starts when fourth in last month's French Oaks, beaten less than two lengths by Senga.
Connections of the daughter of Dansili, who won the Musidora Stakes on her penultimate start, are now seriously considering the mile-and-a-quarter feature on August 3 as her next port of call.
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, said: "I think she probably just didn't quite stay that last half furlong in France, but we were probably covered by the winner that day.
"Racing is full of highs and lows and I think we have to be grown up about it. Obviously we would have preferred to have won, but there's going to be other days for her.
"She ran another smart race, it would have been very nice if she could have been a nostril or two closer.
"We are probably looking to go to the Nassau with her now. We are still very bullish about her."
Gosden felt there were mitigating circmustancss for her being beaten.
He said "She just found the journey and heat too much that day. She wasn't quite herself.
"She's in great form and we're pointing towards the Nassau."
The Newmarket trainer reports So Mi Dar, who lifted the Musidora in 2016, to be almost ready to return to action for the first time since finishing third in the Prix de l'Opera in October.
"I didn't run her at York in the Middleton because it was very soft ground," Gosden told At The Races.
"We saved her for the Brigadier Gerard and she got high muscle enzymes. She's getting over it fine now.
"I'd love to be running her in the Falmouth this week, (but) it's a touch soon, so we'll go straight for the Nassau as well."