Swedish success at Newmarket
Although not trained here, Sweden could still claim a notable victory on day 1 of the Craven meeting when Benny Andersson’s home bred Lavender’s Blue ran out an impressive winner of division 2 of the bet365 European Breeders’ Fund Fillies Maiden Stakes. The daughter of Sea the Stars out of Chess Racing’s group 3 winner Beatrice Aurore always travelled sweetly in the hands of Robert Havlin and when asked to quicken settled the race quickly with a good turn of foot to win going away at the finish. Bred to get further than this 1600m she finished strongly and put herself into the Epsom Oaks picture for which she is quoted at 33 to 1. Although it is difficult to know what she beat Lavender’s Blue could not have done the job any easier and it was noticeable that there was a strong word on and off course for the filly who was heavily backed from 6’s to 3 to 1.
The day’s feature race, the Nell Gwyn, produced a decisive winner and new 1000 Guineas favourite when Qabala overcame an untidy start before travelling powerfully and pulling away for a comfortable victory from a competitive field. With course experience and only making her second start the daughter of Scat Daddy must have a great chance of following up at the beginning of May in what is an open renewal of the classic.
The other main race of the day the listed Fielden stakes saw a tight duel between Kick On and Walkinthesand who pulled almost 5 lengths away from the rest of the field before Kick On just prevailed in the final strides. Neither horse is entered in the Derby at this stage and with the favourite Western Australia disappointing and the well touted Kadar clearly not enjoying the track or ground it will be interesting to see if the form holds up.
The day got off to a great start with division 1 of the maiden fillies stakes where Maqsad got the better of Twist’n’Shake in a pulsating finish, only a short head separating the two, but fully 9 lengths in front of the remote third. Both fillies look smart and will definitely pay to follow in the coming months.
