Goodwood Going No Bother for Winter

Becoming the first filly to win the G1 English and Irish 1000 Guineas, G1 Coronation S. and G1 Nassau S. in the same season, Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) clinched the week's leading honours as she dealt with her latest assignment in the Qatar-sponsored Goodwood highlight on Thursday with the same degree of comfort that she had her previous three. Grey fillies can gain a special following among the turfistes and it is entirely possible that Susan Magnier's latest dignitary could yet join the likes of Petite Etoile and Indian Skimmer with these early achievements already marked off. If there was any genuine concern among Coolmore's collective rationale regarding the state of the ground it was overwhelmed by a concrete belief in their representative who is already laying claim to Minding's crown as the best of her sex to have raced for Aidan O'Brien. Whereas Minding was turned over in the Irish Guineas, Winter made that May 28 Curragh test a validation of what many thought after the Newmarket Classic three weeks earlier; that she would have beaten Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) even if that stablemate had enjoyed a trouble-free run. At Royal Ascot, the filly that David Wachman tended at two before his retirement from training went through the Coronation with a kind of ease which could only be appreciated after the runner-up Roly Poly (War Front) beat some serious fillies and mares in the G1 Falmouth S. and G1 Prix Rothschild the next month.

Tracking TDN Rising Star Sobetsu (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and her slow-starting stablemate Hydrangea (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) throughout the early stages, the 10-11 favourite tended to race a touch exuberantly with Ryan Moore keen to keep her balanced on the deep turf. As fellow 3-year-old Sobetsu kept rolling three furlongs out, Winter was sent up the inner of the labouring Hydrangea and was able to slipstream the Godolphin rival soon after. With the overly-fresh So Mi Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) failing to make any impact from behind and last year's runner-up Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}) not picking up out wide, it was left to the sophomores to make the finale and it was the Ballydoyle ambassador who started to assert approaching the furlong pole. In the run to the line, she was extending in familiar fashion despite the ground and at the line her 1 1/2-length verdict over the closer Blond Me (GB) (Tamayuz {GB}) was a far-from-conclusive measurement of her superiority. Ryan Moore was of that opinion afterwards, “I wouldn't say she was impressive by any means, but this ground is as bad as you are going to get and it wasn't a smooth race at all,” he commented.

Moore was winning his 10th group 1 of the current campaign for Ballydoyle and holds an understandably high opinion of Winter, who it could be argued without exaggeration would have won the Sussex on Wednesday. “It didn't go the way we'd have liked for her, but she has plenty of class and that's what came out in the end,” he commented. “It was quite steady in the early part of the race, we lacked cover and she is a big, long-striding filly but she listens and did everything right. She is a very professional racehorse and on these conditions on this track you are not going to see the best of any horse. She has an incredible record this year and we thought ten furlongs would be okay for her, but the ground was a worry and you never quite know how any horse is going to deal with it. It would have blunted her today, but in the end she was well on top. I always felt I'd get there. She always feels she can pick fillies up, but in this ground they're not quite sure where to put their feet and one bad step and the race can be over. I didn't want it to turn into a slog, but she knows how to win.”

In an era of established star fillies where that sex has never been as prominent, Winter has a plethora of options at her feet with only Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) of either gender to fear in any of the championship events at a mile, this trip or even a mile and a half. Despite being by Galileo, the latter trip would normally seem beyond this filly on paper, with her being a daughter of the Wokingham scorer Laddies Poker Two from a fast female side but she is in the hands of Aidan O'Brien and very few trainers in history have been as skilled at getting horses to stay beyond their pedigrees. It was in this race in 2008 that he achieved it most notably with Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), a product of two five-furlong sprinters and this winner has a freakish quality to her and an as-yet unplumbed depth which suggests anything is possible. “She'll have a choice of York [for the Aug. 23 G1 Juddmonte] International or Leopardstown [for the Sept. 9 G1 Irish Champion S.], but she looks like she'll get a mile and a quarter well–if she got it on that ground she'll get it well in any type of race,” O'Brien said. “She could even get further and the Arc is a possible.”

O'Brien admitted to feeling the customary pre-race trepidation which ensures that no stone is ever unturned in the current perfectionist era of Balldyoyle's second empire. “I was holding my breath all the way,” he admitted. “Jamie was very happy and said she had thrived and Dermot rides her out and they had let her get bigger and stronger which is often a worry. It's a good while since she ran last, so she was really thriving. She nearly turned from a three-year-old into a four-year-old in the middle of the season, which is perfect if they are coming back on soft ground but that was nearly winter ground today so we were worried. Ryan gave her a beautiful ride, he was very aware and held on to her and saved her as long as he could. Even though it's not that long, she's had enough time to thrive so you can look forward to the second half of the season with her.”

Trainer Andrew Balding was delighted with the effort of Barbara Keller's G2 Middleton S. winner Blond Me, who is improving with age on easy ground that suits her well. “She's a cracking filly and that confirms that the Middleton win was no fluke,” he said. “I have a feeling she will stay a bit further and we have her in the [Sept. 3 G1] Grosser Preis Von Baden.” Charlie Appleby said of Sobetsu, “I am delighted with that. We got a soft lead up there, but that is her ground and 10 furlongs is as far as she is going to get. Going forwards with her, we'll see how she comes out of this but we could go to Deauville for the [Aug. 19 G2] Prix de la Nonette. Otherwise, she is a filly we could travel with to America for the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup for three-year-old fillies over nine furlongs–Keeneland in October can get easier conditions.”

As mentioned, Winter is the second foal out of the speedy Laddies Poker Two, who covered Royal Ascot's six furlongs quicker than Starspangledbanner (Aus) did in the same day's G1 Golden Jubilee S. Under the third dam Quelle Affaire is the fast and precocious Ma Yoram (Dayjur), who placed in the G2 Gimcrack S. and G2 Mill Reef S. while the fourth dam was the accomplished sprinter Ancient Regime (Olden Times), who was France's juvenile champion when winning the G1 Prix Morny. That sister to the similarly speedy Prix Maurice de Gheest-winning sire Cricket Ball produced three talented sprinters in the G3 Concorde S.-winning sire Rami, the G3 Prix Eclipse-winning sire Crack Regiment and the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp runner-up La Grande Epoque (Lyphard), who in turn was responsible for the fast sire Matelot. Laddies Poker Two's 2-year-old Snowflakes (Ire) was far from disgraced when eighth in the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot in June and has already achieved a comparable level of form to Winter at the same stage of their careers, while the dam's yearling filly is also by Galileo and she is in foal to him again.

Thursday, Goodwood, Britain
QATAR NASSAU S.-G1, £600,000, GOO, 8-3, 3yo/up, f, 9f 197yT, 2:11.79, sf.
1–WINTER (IRE), 125, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Laddies Poker Two (Ire), by Choisir (Aus)
2nd Dam: Break of Day, by Favorite Trick
3rd Dam: Quelle Affaire, by Riverman
O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Laddies Poker Two Syndicate (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £340,260. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Ire, 8-5-1-2, $1,344,312. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Blond Me (Ire), 133, m, 5, Tamayuz (GB)–Holda (Ire), by Docksider. (65,000gns Ylg '13 TAOCT). O-Mrs Barbara M Keller; B-Wardstown Stud Ltd (IRE); T-Andrew Balding. £129,000.
3–Sobetsu (GB), 125, f, 3, Dubawi (Ire)–Lake Toya, by Darshaan (GB). O-Godolphin; B-Darley (GB); T-Charlie Appleby. £64,560.
Margins: 1HF, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 0.90, 16.00, 6.00.
Also Ran: Hydrangea (Ire), So Mi Dar (GB), Queen's Trust (GB). Scratched: Nezwaah (GB), Shutter Speed (GB), Wuheida (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.