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French success in Guineas
PASCAL Bary made it second
time lucky in the
stanjamesuk.com 1000 Guineas
as Natagora led from the outset
to strike a blow for France in the
fillies Classic at Newmarket.
Five years ago the Chantilly
trainers Six Perfections suffered
a nightmare passage in the race
before eventually going down by
a rapidly diminishing margin to
Russian Rhythm.
There were no hard luck stories
this time as Christophe
Lemaire bounced the grey out of
the stalls and made a beeline for
the stands rail.
Winner of the Cheveley Park
Stakes here last autumn, the
well-backed 11-4 favourite strode
out majestically in front and responded
through the closing
stages to collect by half a length.
Spacious stayed on to be second,
with Saoirse Abu third, Infallible
fourth and the unluckyin-
running Nahoodh an
agonising fifth.
She has done something fantastic.
They all came to her, but
she ran to the end, said Bary.
She is a fantastic filly. I have
dreamed about this since last October.
She is very brave and she
moves very well, even when she
is in front she doesnt pull or anything
like that.
A winner over five and six furlongs
last term, the daughter of
Divine Light tackled seven furlongs
for the first time when successful
in last months Prix Imprudence
and Bary always
thought the mile trip would be in
her range.
I was quite confident she
would stay a mile after the Prix
Imprudence, he said.
We would have preferred to
have a couple of horses in front
of us, but she has plenty of speed
and was able to make the running.
She is in the Irish Guineas,
but with the way she has won
today she may need a bit of time.
She has done all of the work
from the front, so I may look to
Ascot with her. She has done
everything right, so I dont want
to do something wrong. She will
tell me when she is ready to
race.
Reflecting on his past experience
of the race, he added: Six
Perfections was very unlucky but
after that she went on to win the
Marois and Breeders Cup so we
forgot about the Guineas. But
this filly is not the same kind as
Six Perfections.
Six Perfections had to wait behind
and run a very fast final furlong,
but this filly can do it either
way and has less chance of being
unlucky.
The charismatic Lemaire is no
stranger to success on the Rowley
Mile with wins in the Queen
Elizabeth II Stakes and Champion
Stakes also to his name, but he
was elated after securing his first
English Classic.
He said: She has done it beautifully
and has given me my first
Classic success in England which
is very special.
I love Newmarket C I have had
so many good winners here.
Everytime I ride good horses like
Pride or Starcraft things seem to
go right.
On a morning she is a very relaxed
filly, but it is not easy for
horses to make the running all of
the time.
Sometimes you like to put
them behind horses and find another
way of running, but today
when we jumped off from the
gate we were already in front
after 100 metres.
There was then no way to pull
up the filly and get her in behind.
In Maisons-Laffitte I was
lucky as there was a fast horse in
front who I was able to follow.
I got a little bit worried towards
the end when I could hear
the horses hooves coming at me,
but she battled well.
ö Ruby Walsh rode his 1000th
winner as the Dessie Hughestrained
Rare Article grabbed a
last-gasp success at Sligo.
Fresh from securing the Irish
National Hunt jockeys championship,
Walsh produced an excellent
ride to reach the landmark
aboard the 11-8 favourite.
Still only third and seemingly
going nowhere at the final flight,
Walsh refused to give up and galvanised
a sustained drive from
his mount.
Lady Lenson looked home and
hosed but folded late as Rare Article
got up by a head to snatch
victory from the jaws of defeat in
the final stride.
9:28am Monday 5th May 2008
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