Events in France dominate the racing weekend, with Sunday afternoon seeing the latest instalment of the magnificent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but there’s also much to look forward to on British shores.
Saturday afternoon provides a treat for armchair racing fans, with quality action from Ascot, Newmarket, and Redcar. Topping the bill at HQ is the always excellent Sun Chariot Stakes, as a field of Group 1 fillies and mares do battle over the Rowley Mile. Following the final declarations on Thursday morning, six stars remain in contention for the £275,000 prize pool.
Inspiral
- Trainer – John & Thady Gosden
- Jockey – Robert Havlin
- Sire – Frankel
- Group 1 Wins – Fillies’ Mile (2021), Coronation Stakes (2022), Jacques Le Marois (2022, 2023), Sun Chariot Stakes (2023), Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (2023)
With more Group 1 wins than the rest of the field combined, Inspiral has been a fine servant to the Gosden operation since making her debut in 2021. Picking up at least one top-level success in 2021, 2022, and 2023, the daughter of Frankel has amassed over £3m in earnings for connections and will be a big miss when she is retired – which could be after this race.
On her 2024 form, it is easy to come to the conclusion that Inspiral’s best days are behind her, with her lifeless efforts in the Lockinge Stakes and Prince Of Wales’s Stakes particularly hard to fathom. However, her third-placed performance in the Jacques Le Marois last time was a bit more like it – could she have one final day in the sun?
Nashwa
- Trainer – John & Thady Gosden
- Jockey – Hollie Doyle
- Sire – Frankel
- Group 1 Wins – Prix de Diane (2022), Nassau Stakes (2022), Falmouth Stakes (2023)
Also sired by the greatest of all time and housed at the Newmarket operation of the Gosdens, the five-year-old Nashwa has admirably complemented the efforts of Inspiral over the past four seasons. Finishing in the top three in four of her five Group 1 starts in 2023, her peak effort came when routing the field in the Falmouth Stakes
As a Group 1 winner over this trip, Nashwa merits the utmost respect but has questions to answer, having ended last season with an average display in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and returned in March with a midfield outing in the Dubai Turf. Not seen since that Meydan contest, she will need to be fit and firing to take this.
Darnation
- Trainer – Karl Burke
- Jockey – Sam James
- Sire – Too Darn Hot
- Group 1 Wins – None
Having recorded an incredible 1-2-3 in the Ayr Gold Cup two Saturdays back and bagged the Cambridgeshire last weekend, Yorkshire-based Karl Burke bids for another big race success in this Group 1 affair.
Sired by former Gosden star Tood Darn Hot, Darnation exploded onto the scene as a two-year-old – winning three of her first four starts, including a 3l verdict over the reopposing See The Fire in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes. That consistency has deserted her slightly this season, with her sole success from four outings coming in the Group 2 German 1000 Guineas. She’s zero from three in Group 1 company, but a perfect three from three on soft ground, so looks set to have conditions in her favour.
Elmalka
- Trainer – Roger Varian
- Jockey – William Buick
- Sire – Kingman
- Group 1 Wins – 1000 Guineas (2024)
Such is the quality of this race that the sole British Classic winner in the field is only fifth in the betting. Elmalka caused quite the shock when powering home to deny Porta Fortuna by a neck in the 1000 Guineas but she hasn’t been quite so good since. That said, a repeat of her 3¾l fourth in the Coronation Stakes or 3¼l fourth in the Nassau Stakes wouldn’t leave her with much to find.
See The Fire
- Trainer – Andrew Balding
- Jockey – Oisin Murphy
- Sire – Sea The Stars
- Group 1 Wins – None
See The Fire finished behind Darnation in the May Hill Stakes and well adrift of Elmalka in the 1000 Guineas, but unlike that duo, this daughter of the great Sea The Stars has steadily improved throughout the season and arrives right at the top of her game.
Having bitten off more than she could chew against the colts in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse, her two most recent outings have produced career-best efforts – finishing second by a rapidly diminishing neck in the Nassau Stakes and producing a power-packed effort to see off her rivals in the Strensall Stakes. The balance of her form suggests she would appreciate quicker ground, but she certainly isn’t out of place in this lineup.
Tamfana
- Trainer – David Menuisier
- Jockey – Colin Keane
- Sire – Soldier Hollow
- Group 1 Wins – None
Last but not least, the filly currently shading favouritism ahead of Inspiral. Tamfana may not be quite so regally bred as her rivals and without a top-level win to her name, but those factors may not prevent her from going close.
But for repeated trouble in running in the 1000 Guineas, Tamfana may have arrived here as a Classic winner rather than Elmalka. Since that luckless outing, she has again come up short with a ¾l third in the Prix De Diane and 2¾l fourth to current Arc favourite Sosie in the Grand Prix de Paris. Back in the Winner’s Enclosure with a slick victory in the Group 3 Atalanta Stakes last time out, connections will hope this is the day she grabs the elusive Group 1.