Impressive Nashwa marks herself out as another Oaks contender for Gosdens

Saturday: Haydock

Another day, another major ante-post Cazoo Oaks mover for John and Thady Gosden.

Less than 24 hours after Emily Upjohn announced herself as a serious Classic contender at Sandown, Nashwa was an equally dominant winner of a fillies' novice to earn a slashing of her Oaks odds.

The Imad Alsagar homebred did not quite cause the stir of stablemate Emily Upjohn, who was cut to 7-1 (from 25) for the Oaks, but she was shortened to 14-1 (from 40-1) after an easy six and a half-length success under the Derby-winning owner's retained rider Hollie Doyle.

"It was her first run of the season and she was fresh early, but Hollie got some cover and once she pulled her out and asked her, she quickened up nicely," said Thady Gosden. "She's owned and bred by Imad Alsagar and the Oaks is every owner's target, so we'll go for a trial now and see how we go from there."

With Emily Upjohn likely to go for the Musidora Stakes at York, Nashwa could go down the Enable route, with the Cheshire Oaks among her possible trial dates.

"They've only won novices, the filly yesterday won with a penalty over a mile and a quarter whereas this filly has won over a mile," added Gosden, who also drew encouragement from Wonderful Times's debut run in second.

"Emily Upjohn is a big filly and a different model to this one and York is a track that would suit her, so that [the Musidora] would be the obvious choice. This filly showed plenty of speed over a mile on ground that was quicker than ideal, so we'll find a trial somewhere, maybe Chester but we'll see."

Boardman back with a bang

This time last year Boardman marked himself out as a handicapper of note without really going to build on his early promise.

The Tim Easterby-trained six-year-old has started the new season in similar vein, building on a promising reappearance at Redcar to win the feature 7f handicap.

There was a moment of worry as Boardman got caught in a pocket, but David Allan stayed calm and his mount flew home once the gap appeared.

"When things go right in the race he can really quicken at the end," said the jockey. "They went a solid gallop into the bend and it helped him relax, which is the main job with him. I was short of daylight but once I got room, he picked up straight away."

Doyle impressed

James Doyle believes New Comedy is "above average" after the gelded son of Sea The Stars became the latest Charlie Appleby three-year-old to hit the target.

The 5-4 favourite, carrying a 7lb penalty against all six rivals, underwent a wind operation since a successful debut at Southwell in January and battled back after being headed to beat Baltic Bird by a head in the 1m3½f novice.

"It's not easy giving these penalties away, you have to be above average to win with them and that would give us plenty of positives to take out of the race," said Doyle.

"I don't think making the running suited him and he was going through the motions a bit, but he's definitely going to stay well and he showed that by the way he hit the line."

Results, replays and analysis

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