SIX OF THE BEST
Few expected any kind of turn-up in Saturday's G1 Qatar Nassau S. at Goodwood and the race ultimately went to script, with Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) garnering a sixth top-level success without too much stress. Emulating Ballydoyle's Peeping Fawn (Danehill) and Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) in adding this prize to an already impressive tally, Derrick Smith's all-conquering G1 1000 Guineas, G1 Epsom Oaks and G1 Pretty Polly S. heroine was not given an especially hard time despite the respectable effort of TDN Rising Star Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in second. Ryan Moore's only moment of concern on the 1-5 favourite came when he was briefly shuffled back to rear before the home turn, but it was not long before she was back in control and after rolling by Queen's Trust passing the two-furlong pole was pushed out to secure the win by 1 1/4 lengths. “It was always going to be a messy sort of race today and it was just a question of keeping it as simple as possible,” her jockey said. “Her last seven races have all been group ones and she's won six of them. She's just so classy and versatile. The ground was actually a bit loose out there and she might have preferred a slightly nicer surface.”
Saturday, Goodwood, Britain
QATAR NASSAU S.-G1, £600,000, GOO, 7-30, 3yo/up, f, 9f 192yT, 2:05.05, g/f.
1–MINDING (IRE), 123, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Lillie Langtry (Ire) (Hwt. 3yo Filly-Eng at 7-9.5f, G1SW-Eng & Ire, $1,361,940), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
2nd Dam: Hoity Toity (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
3rd Dam: Hiwaayati (GB), by Shadeed
O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £340,260. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Ire, 10-7-3-0, $2,203,318. *Full to Kissed by Angels (Ire), GSW-Ire. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Queen's Trust (GB), 123, f, 3, Dansili (GB)–Queen's Best (GB), by King's Best. O/B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd (GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute. £129,000.
3–Jemayel (Ire), 123, f, 3, Lope de Vega (Ire)–Nawal (Fr), by Homme de Loi (Ire). (€100,000 Ylg '14 AR14). O-Al Shaqab Racing; B-SF Bloodstock LLC (IRE); T-Jean-Claude Rouget. £64,560.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1 1/4, 6. Odds: 0.20, 16.00, 16.00.
Also Ran: Swiss Range (GB), Beautiful Romance (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Despite meeting trouble in running on the two more unconventional tracks here and at Epsom, Minding has that ability to overcome due to her inherent acceleration when it is called upon. As he had in the June 3 Oaks, Ryan Moore refused to panic when caught behind rivals as James Doyle arrived on his outside on Godolphin's ultimately disappointing Beautiful Romance (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) on the approach to the final bend. Where others might have been flustered and given the wrong signals to their mount, Europe's uncontested leading jockey knows what he has underneath him and allowed Minding to cruise back from last to first down the outer with only Queen's Trust to worry about. Once she had established her dominion over that Cheveley Park homebred inside the final furlong, she was kept up to her work to register another landmark success and become her stable's most prolific at this level.
“It's hard to compare and hard to know how good she is, as she's doing it over a variety of trips and only does what she has to do,” her rider said of the winner, who is the first to succeed in the Guineas, Oaks, Pretty Polly and Nassau and who looks likely to carry on for some time yet. Aidan O'Brien has no specific target planned for her, but in the absence of a hard race here might be tempted to go again soon. “We've been very happy with her at home and she's thrived from race to race. Physically she's getting stronger and she has a super mind,” he commented. “It can get messy in those small fields, but Ryan handled it great. He said she did what she had to do and has become very professional. We can now look at York and the [Sept. 10 G1] Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, but there is also France–she's probably ready to go down most roads. A mile, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half all come alike to her.”
Sir Michael Stoute was taking much heart from the performance of the runner-up and said, “She's run a blinder and has been out of luck. She should have won at Newbury and was badly drawn in the Ribblesdale. She will now head for the [Aug. 18 Listed] Galtres [S. at York].”
Minding's dam Lillie Langtry is well known for her exploits on the track and is poised to become one of Coolmore's most important broodmares, with Minding following on from her G3 Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial-winning full-sister Kissed by Angels (Ire). From the family of the two sprinter sires Great Commotion and Lead on Time, as well as the G2 Champagne S.-winning sire R. B. Chesne (GB), she may not have produced anything of the caliber of that pair in her useful 2-year-old maiden filly How (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), but it is still early days and she has yet another yearling filly by that sire to come.
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