Diamond Necklace sparkled within the Goodwood sunshine to land the Group 1 Qatar Nassau Stakes and may very well be poised to strut her stuff in Paris this autumn.
Aidan O’Brien’s filly prolonged her unbeaten profession file to 6 with a routine two-and-three-quarter-length defeat of Pleasant Soul beneath Ryan Moore, encouraging her handler to dream of a tilt on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October.
O’Brien mentioned: ‘Diamond Necklace is a stunning filly who has danced each dance. This was as much as a mile and 1 / 4 in opposition to older fillies, so we didn’t actually know what was going to occur, however we needed to placed on tempo to search out out.
‘She has choices now, whether or not she stays at a mile and 1 / 4 and goes to the fillies’ race in France, or to Leopardstown or an Arc trial. She is a superb cruiser and progressing properly.
Diamond Necklace pulls clear at Goodwood to win the Qatar Nassau Stakes
‘It’s doable (the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe). I have no idea how far we ask her to go, and it’ll depend upon all the things, however the subsequent run will inform us the place she goes to go after that.
Moore was equally enthusiastic concerning the daughter of St Mark’s Basilica: ‘That’s the greatest Diamond Necklace has felt. She is enhancing along with her racing.
‘I feel 10 furlongs might be her optimum, however with these stylish horses, they do all the things proper, so there’s a probability she would keep additional.’
The mixture recorded a double within the Markel Richmond Stakes when it proved extra of a case of punters’ greatest pal than Man’s Finest Buddy with Moore steering the favored 11/2 probability to success within the Group 2 occasion.
The victory regarded doubtful for a lot of the competition because the colt’s rider struggled to discover a clear passage aboard the Ballydoyle-trained son of No Nay By no means.
Nevertheless, as soon as within the clear the duo flew previous the admirable Adaay Of Scarlett to attain by a comfortable size and provides his coach a primary win within the race since 2000.
If it’s not one O’Brien successful, it’s one other and Aidan’s son Joseph acquired in on the motion courtesy of the progressive Enceladus within the Group 3 Gordon Stakes.
The winner of Royal Ascot’s King George V Handicap took the step as much as Group firm in his stride, discovering lots for stress from the furlong marker beneath Dylan Browne McMonagle to comfortably maintain the problem of Geryon by a size and 1 / 4.
Requested about stepping up in journey for the St Leger, Browne McMonagle mentioned: ‘I’m positive the space shall be no downside for him, however he’s not in need of gears both; he has loads of gears for a mile and a half.
‘I feel as he develops, it will likely be no downside going up in journey, which is able to open up choices for him going forwards.’
Billy Loughnane, hero of day two for his exploits on Go to Qatar Sussex Stakes winner Bow Echo, got here crashing again all the way down to earth, fairly actually, when his first-race trip Savvy Disco dramatically clipped heels on the furlong marker and got here down.
Fortunately, each horse and jockey had been completely superb and none the more serious for the expertise, a lot in order that Loughnane rose from the canvas to companion Avalon Queen to victory within the seven furlong maiden.
Over at Galway, Daniel King turned the primary jockey in 42 years to win each the Plate and the Hurdle when Putapoundinthejar adopted exhausting on the heels of success for King Alexander 24 hours beforehand.
