Goodwood: Breeders' Cup winner Audarya major player in Group 1 Nassau

Audarya’s shine might’ve lost a little bit of its gloss when Love finished a soundly beaten third Saturday in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but Audarya still looks strong Thursday at Goodwood in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.

Winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Audarya finished second, beaten just three-quarters of a length by Love, in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes on June 16 at Royal Ascot, first start of the year for both horses. At the time, Love looked like she might be the best middle-distance horse in Europe, but she proved no real match for 3-year-old Adayar and 4-year-old Mishriff in the King George.

Still, Audarya’s form through Love and the fillies and mares she beat in the BC Filly and Mare Turf makes her the favorite, or close to it, in the 1 1/4-mile Nassau, which is female-restricted and attracted six entrants. Audarya, a 5-year-old Wootton Bassett mare trained by James Fanshawe, notched her first Group 1 last summer in the Prix Jean Romanet, and as a 3-year-old of 2019 she won a handicap race over the Goodwood course.

Ridden Thursday by William Buick, Audarya – and the other older fillies and mares – carry 133 pounds in the Nassau, giving a meaningful nine pounds to the 3-year-olds in the race. The best Nassau entrant in that age set, at least over 1 1/4 miles, appears to be Joan of Arc, Ryan Moore riding for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

Joan of Arc finished a close second to her stablemate and fellow Nassau entrant Empress Josephine in the one-mile Irish 1000 Guineas, but in her first start beyond one mile she scored a game win over 16 rivals at Chantilly in the 1 5/16-mile Prix de Diane, the French Oaks. Empress Josephine, a nose better than Joan of Arc in the Irish 1000 Guineas, came back with a clunker, finishing eighth in the one-mile Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

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The capable 5-year-old Lady Bowthorpe, whose best performance this season probably was her second-place finish to Palace Pier in the one-mile, straight-course J.T. Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, also has come in for considerable antepost betting support. Zeyaadah and longshot Technique complete the field.

The Goodwood course as of Tuesday was labeled soft. Post time for the Nassau is 10:35 a.m. Eastern.

*Favored Trueshan, ridden by Hollie Doyle, made an early move to the lead and won the Group 1 Goodwood Cup by nearly four lengths over 30-1 shot Away He Goes.

It was a first Group 1 winner for trainer Alan King, who has won top-level jump races before. The two-mile Goodwood Cup was contested over a soft course that caused favored Stradivarius to be scratched Tuesday morning, leaving Trueshan a short-priced favorite.