Midday claims Nassau Stakes at Goodwood
Saturday 31 July 2010
Normal service was resumed for Prince Khalid Abdullah as Midday banished thoughts of Derby winner Workforce's eclipse last weekend with a dramatic success in the Blue Square Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.
Trainer Henry Cecil had six previous wins in the fillies' event to his name - but none can surely have matched the excitement generated by the 15-8 favourite as she repelled the challenge of French raider Stacelita.
Midday was strongly fancied to repeat her victory of 12 months earlier and the light drizzle which dusted the course during the morning hours only strengthened her case.
With Barshiba providing a moderate gallop in front, the mile-and-a-quarter Group One turned into a dash for the line and the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner rose to the occasion.
The four-year-old took three lengths out of the field with a quarter-mile to run, only to find last year's French Oaks winner Stacelita attempting to gun her down in the final 100 yards.
The pair came together briefly, resulting in Tom Queally incurring a two-day suspension (August 14-15) for careless riding in the first live televised stewards' inquiry, but his mount was spurred on by Stacelita's presence and quickened like a sprinter to brush her aside by a length and a quarter.
Midday's win added to her owner's magnificent 2010 which has seen Workforce land the Derby, Special Duty the English and French 1000 Guineas, Twice Over the Coral-Eclipse and Byword the Prince Of Wales's Stakes.
Cecil said: 'They went very slowly and there was no pace. It was more like a mile race - she quickened clear and thought she had done enough before deciding to quicken again.
'She is getting a bit lazy and prefers to quicken gradually. She likes a strong pace and thought she had done enough, but quickened when the second came to her.
'She is stronger than last year and has a heavier shoulder. She doesn't like quick ground and if it was firm she wouldn't have run.
'She got jarred up at York last time and took a long time to get over it.
'I have to be careful with her, but so long as the ground is not quick she will hopefully run in the Yorkshire Oaks next.
'Hopefully she will have a good end-of-year campaign and the Breeders' Cup is in the mix.'
The owner's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe added: 'She is a tremendous filly and has done really well since York.
'She travelled very well during the race and led a furlong and a half out and idled in front. The runner-up headed her, but she likes a fight and went away again.
'Stacelita is very smart and I was particularly nervous when she came upsides, but Midday is game and we do have the Breeders' Cup at the back of our minds.'
Queally put up a strong case in defence when appearing before the stewards live on Channel 4.
He told the officials: 'In what was initially a slow-run race, I took a stalking role about four furlongs from home and I quickened it up little by little.
'I wanted to commit my filly in plenty of time and I saw Mr Soumillon (on Stacelita) labouring.
'I had a quick look to my right to make sure I was clear of him because my initial plan was to go to the rail for the best ground. I was well over a length clear of him when I went to the right.
'Although both fillies shifted left late on, I had my stick in my left hand and did everything in my power to keep her straight.
'As well as that I was almost a length and a half clear at the line and I won decisively.'
Stacelita was France's darling filly last summer and after losing her unbeaten tag in the in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe she has been brought slowly back to the boil this summer by trainer Jean-Claude Rouget.
He said: 'It is always disappointing to be beaten, but when you are beaten by a better horse there is really nothing to say.
'We started her very late to protect her for the summer and autumn, and now she could have two or maybe three more races.
'There is only three weeks to Deauville and then I would like to run her in the Prix de l'Opera on Arc day, but that is just three weeks before the Breeders' Cup.
'Her main objective is the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, so depending on how things pan out she will either run two or three more times.'
