Goodwood Nassau Stakes 2016

The G1 Nassau Stakes will be held on Saturday 30th July. Legatissimo won for David Watchman, last season. Which horses are dominating this year’s betting?

Minding

The Galileo filly will start as an odds-on favourite and it’s easy to see why. She won the G1 Epsom Oaks, despite encountering terrible trouble in-running and looked 5 lengths better than anything else on display. A comfortable win at the Curragh followed, in the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes and it will be a big shock if she doesn’t finish first.

Alice Springs

Finally came good, at Headquarters, winning the G1 Falmouth Stakes in a new course record. Faced Minding, on the same course, back in May and was beaten 4 lengths into 3rd (G1 1,000 Guineas). The 2nd-best horse in the race, but very-much 2nd-best based on that encounter.

Persuasive

John Gosden’s Dark Angel filly is unbeaten in 4 starts and won the Listed Sandringham Handicap at Ascot in June. She’s an exciting and lightly-raced prospect, but her entry here represents a huge leap of faith.

The likes of Seventh Heaven, Journey, Speedy Boarding, Furia Cruzada, Swiss Range and Somehow will also be in contention should anything go amiss with the favourite. Each-way backers might see some value in Even Song, Jemayel, Ballydoyle and Coolmore.

About The Nassau Stakes

The Nassau Stakes was first run in 1840, the year that the Penny Black stamp was issued. It is an historic encounter for fillies and mares. Horses must be aged at least three years and there is a purse of two hundred thousand pounds up for grabs.

The race distance is one mile and one furlong. The runners run right-handed on this famous and beautiful turf course.

William Buick rode the winner of this race in both 2013 and 2014. On both occasions, he was riding a John Gosden-trained horse. Winsili took the spoils in 2013, while the 2014 champion was Sultanina.

Gosden also trained the winner of the 2012 Nassau Stakes. This time, Richard Hughes was in the saddle and the horse was called The Fugue. This mare has now retired to stud, following a racing career that promised more than it actually delivered.

The Fugue did win some important races, including the Musidora Stakes (2012), the Yorkshire Oaks (2013), the Irish Champion Stakes (2013) and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (2014). However, she just fell short in many other Group fixtures and deserved to retire with a lot more silverware on the mantlepiece than she did. The fact that the Fugue won almost two million pounds in prize-money gives an indication of how often this top-class mare finished in the money but not in the winners enclosure.

She was fourth in the 1000 Guineas, third in the Epsom Oaks, second in the Ribblesdale, third in the Yorkshire Oaks and second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. That was just in her three year-old season, when she was still named Cartier Champion Three Year-Old Filly! The Fugue is now being bred at Watership Down Stud and her offspring will be monitored with a great deal of interest.

Midday won this race in three consecutive years, between 2009 and 2011. Sired by Oasis Dream and out of a dam called Midsummer, this bay filly was foaled in 2006. Owned and bred by Khalid Abdullah, she was trained by the late Henry Cecil. Midday also won the Lingfield Oaks Trial (2009), the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (2009), the Yorkshire Oaks (2010), the Prix Vermeille (2010) and the Middleton Stakes (2011).

Goodwood Racecourse ranks amongst the most picturesque in the entire world and any true fan of the turf should make the trip to see this stunning venue in its Summer glory. If Newmarket is the heart of English flat racing, then Goodwood is its soul. There are some great races that are held each year at Goodwood, including the Stewards Cup, the King George Stakes, the Goodwood Cup and the Sussex Stakes.

It goes without saying that you can bet on all of these top Goodwood fixtures with RaceBets!