Star of Seville seeks second Group 1 win in Nassau

Star of Seville, the winner of the Group 1 French Oaks at Chantilly on June 14, will have her stakes debut against older fillies and mares in Saturday’s $934,860 Nassau Stakes at about 1 1/4 miles on turf at Goodwood Racecourse in England.

Trained by John Gosden, Star of Seville has won four of six starts for owner and breeder Carole Bamford. The French Oaks, formally known as the Prix de Diane, was Star of Seville’s second start in a Group 1, following a ninth-place finish in the English Oaks at Epsom Downs on June 5.

There are nine runners in the Nassau Stakes, and seven of them are 3-year-olds, including Diamondsandrubies, who won the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes for fillies and mares at The Curragh in Ireland on June 28, and Legatissimo and Lady of Dubai, who were second and third in the English Oaks. Legatissimo won the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in May and was second to Diamondsandrubies in the Pretty Polly Stakes.

The two 4-year-old fillies in the field are Bright Approach, who is trained by Gosden and will have her first start of the year Saturday, and Cladocera, who won two stakes at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates in the winter and was third in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 17.

Gosden has a third runner in the field in Jazzi Top, who was fifth in the English Oaks in her last start.