The impeccably-bred Queen Of The Pride continued her swift rise through the ranks with authoritative victory in the bet365 Lancashire Oaks at Haydock.
With champion middle-distance performer Roaring Lion for a sire and St Leger heroine Simple Verse for a dam, John and Thady Gosden’s filly had plenty to live up to from day one – but the Qatar Racing homebred is doing a fine job of upholding family honour.
Although beaten on her Newmarket debut last summer, she rounded off her three-year-old campaign with victory at Leicester and has continued her progress this season, with a narrow defeat in Listed company at Goodwood followed by a Group Three win over the Lancashire Oaks course and distance in last month’s Pinnacle Stakes.
With Oisin Murphy in the saddle, Queen Of The Pride was a 100-30 shot to make the step up to Group Two level and displayed a smart change of gear to quicken three lengths clear of 85-40 favourite Tiffany.
Paddy Power cut the winner’s odds for next month’s Yorkshire Oaks to 6-1 from 16-1, while Murphy believes a trip to ParisLongchamp on Arc weekend in October could be on the agenda.
He said: “She really relaxed today and jumped and travelled. I thought we went a good, even pace and I was quite cautious of the bend, so I went from following Luke Morris (Tiffany) quite closely to giving him a few lengths head start at the top of the straight.
“I was really pleased with how she picked up and she ran right the way through the line. We all thought after she won her last race here that something like the Prix de Royallieu would be a good long-term target and I’m sure that’s in John and Thady’s mind.”
Thady Gosden added: “Obviously she won here last time in the Lester Piggott (Pinnacle) Stakes and she was still a little green and learning then. You could see here today she’s definitely picked up a bit from last time out.
“She has run well here over the mile and a half, so it’s possible (the Yorkshire Oaks). We’ll have to assess our options and see where we go.
“She’s a proper Qatar Racing homebred. It’s very unusual to own the sire and the mother and they were two champions in their own right, so it’s a huge achievement for them.
“We’ll see how she comes out of it, she’s done absolutely nothing wrong so far and she’s a smart filly.”
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