'She is on the upgrade big time' - can Kalpana or Time Lock end Juddmonte's wait for victory in the Fillies & Mares?
It pays to be positioned prominently on Ascot’s inner circuit, as we saw when Poptronic stole this race from the front at big odds last year, and without a lot of pace in this year’s running it’s easy to see a similar scenario unfolding.
Jessica Harrington’s Village Voice can go forward, as seen when she landed a Group 3 at Saint-Cloud a year ago. She bounced back to form with a wide-margin Listed success again at Saint-Cloud last month. This requires a career best, but she’s lightly raced for a four-year-old and the ground is in her favour.
Aidan O’Brien bids for a third win in this race with a trio of runners, including Wingspan, who is a potential front-runner under Sean Levey. She arrives on the back of a narrow defeat in a Curragh Group 2 last month, when just failing to make all, and her dam, Hydrangea, won this race for connections in 2017 with a career-best performance. The filly is also proven on testing ground, having won her maiden on heavy in April.
Ryan Moore seemingly prefers the claims of Content, who never got into it from off the pace in the Prix de l’Opera. However, she was on an upward curve before that, culminating in a breakthrough Group 1 success in the Yorkshire Oaks, and the return to further might help her get back on track.
Kalpana heads the betting after her impressive Group 3 success in the September Stakes. Andrew Balding’s filly has been positioned prominently in each of her two recent wins, but William Buick may have his work cut out to get a box seat position from stall 11. Soft ground is arguably the bigger concern, given she’s yet to run on anything slower than good.
Analysis by Phill Anderson
Juddmonte eye first Fillies & Mares joy
Juddmonte has yet to land the spoils in the Group 1 Fillies & Mares Stakes, but the powerful racing operation field two in Kalpana and Time Lock in a bid to change fortunes this year.
Kalpana, trained by Andrew Balding, is a general 3-1 shot for the top-level contest following her career-best effort when landing the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton last month.
Barry Mahon, racing manager to Juddmonte, said: "She's in great form and she looks great. She still has her summer coat on her, so hopefully that'll do her good. It's her eighth run of the year. When you get to this stage with fillies, you're never quite sure because she's been on a course since January, but Andrew is happy with her. All the signs at home suggest she's in good form.
"Kempton was a big step up, and she's done nothing but improve all year. She's been quite a weak and late-maturing filly, but she's matured all year and every run has been better. It probably led to that improved performance last time."
The Harry Charlton-trained Time Lock also comes into the race in career-best form after returning to winning ways in the Group 3 Dubai Stakes at Newmarket last month.
Mahon added: "She loved Newmarket. The ground looks like it could be a little soft for her, but she's won on that before. She's coming to the end of her racing career and the owners were keen to give her another go. Hopefully she can run another nice race."
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What they say
Alison Begley, racing manager to Al Shaqab Racing, owners of Doha
She looks good and Ralph's very happy with her. She didn't have too hard a race at Saint-Cloud last time, so this is worth a go. She's such a genuine filly. This is her first time over the trip, but she's bred to get it. If she improves again, she could run a big race.
John Gosden, joint-trainer of Queen Of The Pride
She's had a very good year, winning two Group races, but we would have concerns about the ground for her. Also, her wide draw could count against her, but she goes there in good shape.
Aidan O'Brien, trainer of Content, Grateful and Wingspan
Content likes the mile and a half and she has form on soft ground. France was a bit of a non-event, as it was back to a mile and a quarter and they went very slow. She always wears earplugs, but in France you aren’t allowed to run in earplugs unless you wear a hood, so she obviously had to wear both, which might have been too much for her. We put her run there down to a combination of all those things, and we have to put a line through it. Grateful is a classy filly with an unbelievable pedigree. Christophe [Soumillon] gave her a brilliant ride when she won the Prix de Royallieu, and he rides again. That was over a mile and six, but this race will ride like more than a mile and a half as it will be so testing, so hopefully she’ll run well again. Wingspan is on the upgrade big time. Ryan [Moore] felt she was a little bit unlucky a few times, but she’s definitely improving and her mum Hydrangea won this race, so she got the mile and a half. We think she’ll handle the ease in the ground, and her work is stepping up every week.
Reporting by Liam Headd
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Champions Day previews:
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