Glorious Goodwood

racing news/

Peeping Fawn Looks Down On Rivals
04/8/2007

1st 6 Peeping Fawn 2/1 FAV
2nd 2 Mandesha 7/2
3rd 5 Light Shift 3/1

Peeping Fawn, who did not race at two and who failed to score in her first three races, won her third Group One race in little more than a month when landing the Blue Square Nsassau Stakes.

The three-year-old daughter of Danehill, recent winner of the Pretty Polly Stakes and Irish Oaks, sauntered clear of her rivals under jockey Johnny Murtagh, and had plenty in hand to hold the late challenge of France’s Mandesha. She scored by one and a half lengths, while Vodafone Oaks winner Light Shift was third, three and a half lengths further back.

Winning trainer Aidan O’Brien said: “She’s a very special filly. She’s progressed with every run, and even progressed from the Irish Oaks. You rarely see that, and she’s getting bigger and stronger. Physically she’s grown into an unbelievable specimen.

“She is a big filly, but everyone at home has done a great job. Every week she has grown up. Everything is open to her, but we never decide until a week after their races.”

Asked why it took her four races to break her duck, O’Brien said: “She was always very good, but it just shows what a bad job I was doing.”

Murtagh said: “Some great fillies have won this race, so there was a bit of pressure on. When walking round at the start you looked around and saw so many good fillies - the older ones like Nannina and Mandesha, and the English Oaks winner [Light Shift] - it was building up to be a good race. There was a good atmosphere down there and everyone was keen to get on with it.

“The race worked out well for me. I didn’t want to be at the two-marker looking for room. She stayed the trip well and pulled me to the front. Coming off the bend they moved out and she really came on the bridle. I moved up to pass Jamie [Spencer on Speciosa] at the three when I expected to get there at two.”

The winner was immediately shortened in price for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Blue Square cut her from 14-1 to 10-1, a price matched by VC Bet, William Hill and Paddy Power, while totesport make her an 8-1 shot.

MANDESHA STILL ON COURSE FOR ARC

Mandesha is still firmly on target for a tilt at the Group One Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after chasing home Peeping Fawn in the Group One Blue Square Nassau Stakes.

The Alain-de Royer-Dupre-trained filly, a 7/2 chance, finished a length and a half second to Peeping Fawn in the near 10-furlong showpiece under Christophe Soumillon.

The trainer said: “She ran well - better than her last race at Saint-Cloud. There are no excuses. She prefers good or good to firm ground so the going was perfect. It was the first time she has travelled and her first try at a track like this.

“The Arc has always been her target so she will have a prep race at Longchamp, maybe in the Prix Foy. There is a possibility that she will go to Japan or Hong Kong later in the year.”

Mandesha remains a 14/1 shot for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Paddy Power.

BREEDERS’ CUP COULD BE ON LIGHT SHIFT AGENDA

Henry Cecil, trainer of third-placed Light Shift, who was a 3/1 shot, believes the Vodafone Oaks heroine may have been unhappy on the good to firm ground after seeing her come home five lengths behind her old rival Peeping Fawn.

The 10-time champion trainer said: “Last year when she ran on very firm ground she didn’t like it and I think she was just saving herself. Normally she would quicken up but you could see four out that she wasn’t liking the ground.

“She’s very well and I just hoped there wouldn’t be any jar in the ground and that she’d handle it better than the other filly (Peeping Fawn).

“I don’t want to make any excuses. She usually fires and she didn’t today so I think she was saving herself. Once she hit the rising ground she kept on again.

“She’s more likely to go for the Breeders’ Cup than the Arc but we’ll see.”

FIFTH, SEVENTH & EIGHTH

John Egan, rider of the fifth Don’t Dili Dali, commented: “She ran very well and was true to the line.”

Richard Hills, rider of the seventh Yaqeen, said: “She wasn’t moving right in the last furlong.”

Jimmy Fortune, the jockey of the eighth Nannina, declared: “That was very disappointing.”

John Gosden, trainer of Nannina, added: “Nannina was nearly knocked over. She was fourth on the inside and got slammed into (just over two furlongs out) and it was very lucky that she didn’t go down.”