Nashwa takes on talented 3-year-old Blue Rose Cen in Nassau Stakes
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Nashwa rediscovered her better form again July 14 winning the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket just in time to make a serious bid to win the Nassau Stakes for the second year in a row. But to do so, she’ll have to beat the sensational 3-year-old filly Blue Rose Cen while conceding eight pounds in the Group 1 Nassau on Thursday at Goodwood Racecourse.
Final declarations for the Nassau, a female-restricted 1 1/4-mile race, hadn’t been made as of Monday, when nine horses remained expected runners. But Blue Rose Cen and Nashwa are set to make the gate, and they form the heart of the contest.
It was Nashwa who got the weight-for-age break winning the Nassau a year ago. The John and Thady Gosden trainee closed a successful 2022 campaign with a respectable fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland but was below form losing her first two races in 2023 before bouncing back third time out. Cut back in distance to one mile in the Falmouth, Nashwa cruised to a five-length win over Remarquee, a 3-year-old filly who had a nine-pound weight break and was coming off a second-place finish in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Remarquee is no Blue Rose Cen, who is an unknown racing outside of France, where she’s made all nine of her starts. Debuting in May 2022, Blue Rose Cen finished sixth, and she was beaten last August in a listed race, but the filly has won her seven other outings and comes into the Nassau after a strong win in the French 1000 Guineas over one mile, and an even stronger one in the French Oaks, run over 1 5/16 miles.
Blue Rose Cen did sit a perfect pocket trip in the French Oaks, slipping through along the fence after tracking the leaders, but she made the most of favorable circumstances, pulling steadily clear to a four-length victory while beating 14 rivals. Blue Rose Cen, by Churchill, is trained by Christopher Head, the son of jockey-turned trainer Freddy Head and the grandson of the famed owner, breeder, and trainer Alec Head. Head has brought Blue Rose Cen along beautifully while the jockey Aurelien Lemaitre has done fine work on the filly, though both horse and rider will be racing over a much different type of racecourse than standard when they encounter Goodwood for the first time.
◗ Jim Crowley could be facing a lengthy suspension for overuse of the crop while riding Hukum to a rousing victory this past Saturday in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Meanwhile, 6-year-old Hukum was cut as low as 6-1 in antepost wagering for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which will be his major autumn target.
◗ Trainer Aidan O’Brien on Sunday told The Irish Times that Auguste Rodin was somewhat stiff and sore following his last-place finish Saturday as the King George favorite. No specific excuse has been provided for Auguste Rodin’s flop, O’Brien hinting that the Irish Champion could be the English Derby winner’s next target.
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