Qatar Nassau Stakes report
Lady Bowthorpe (100/30) provided jockey Kieran Shoemark with the first Group One success of his career as she produced a withering late run to win the Qatar Nassau Stakes.
Joan of Arc, sent off the 9/4 joint favourite with Audarya, dictated the gallop under Ryan Moore, with Shoemark content to try and settle Lady Bowthorpe towards the rear of the field on her first start over a mile and a quarter, with only Audarya behind her.
Zeyaadah was the first to move up to challenge Joan of Arc in the straight, but Lady Bowthorpe still appeared to be full of running as she began to make headway down the outside. The only question was how strongly she would finish the race having been campaigned mostly at a mile before today, but she quickly put those doubts to bed as she drew clear in the final furlong, passing the post with a length and a half to spare over Zeyaadah, with Joan of Arc another half a length back in third.
Audarya was never going the pace to trouble the leaders and trailed in fifth of the six runners.
Reaction from Lady Bowthorpe team
Shoemark said: “I'm pretty speechless to be honest. Lady Bowthorpe is such a special mare. I just feel lucky to be a part of her. It's fantastic for the whole team, Emma Banks, William Jarvis.
“I know this horse so well and I can tell what form she is in just by cantering to the start. She took a hold of me cantering down and I knew she was in good form. She likes a bit of give in the ground, the question mark was the 10 furlongs. In all her previous races, her last furlong has been her best furlong so it didn't concern me too much.
“Lady Bowthorpe bumped into an absolute champion in Palace Pier in the Lockinge. She was unlucky in the Falmouth where things didn't go her way as we hit traffic problems that day. It's all worthwhile now. I'm delighted that we're going to be able to celebrate tonight and really enjoy this. It’s a massive team effort.
“She's a special filly and has done nothing but improve with age. She is a credit to her owner Emma who is an incredible woman who fills me with absolute confidence. I'm just delighted.
“In the last day or so, I've been imagining crossing the line in front, but I think it will not sink in until later. Without sounding too confident, I always believed if I got myself clean and sober that I would get to where I wanted to be.
“My career is back on track now. I'm really enjoying the racing and to be involved in these huge days is what it's all about. I've won a Group One today, but I'm already looking forward to the next one.”
Newmarket trainer William Jarvis, who was saddling his first Group One winner since Grand Lodge won the 1994 St James’s Palace Stakes, was understandably delighted to see his filly gain just reward for a series of consistent efforts in top company.
Jarvis said: “We knew Lady Bowthorpe was smart when she won the Valiant Stakes at Ascot as a four-year-old. She was exceptional in the Dahlia Stakes and she's a very, very smart filly.
“I think after she won the Dahlia Stakes that was when I, personally, thought that she should have the Nassau Stakes on her radar and we sort of worked back a little bit. Having said that, she hasn't missed a beat, we went Dahlia, Lockinge, Royal Ascot, Newmarket, she's a very tough mare. I've been dying to run her over 10 furlongs for a long time but events transpired against us until today. Anyway, I think she has proved that she's even better over 10 than she is at a mile.
“I've never lost faith in myself as a trainer. Quite a lot of other people may well have done, which is why we've only got 28 or 29 horses in the yard. However, I've got a lovely bunch of staff working for me and they've never lost faith in the way that we operate and they give me everything. We are a family unit and there is a lot of loyalty involved, including with Kieran who I am delighted for.
“There was a lot of pressure from outside people saying should we do this or that or leave Oisin Murphy sitting in the weighing room, but it never really crossed our minds. I am thrilled for Kieran. He is a delightful young man who has impeccable manners. He obviously went through a bad place but he came out through the other end. He is a delight to work with.”
Lady Bowthorpe’s owner Emma Banks said: “Kieran gave Lady Bowthorpe an amazing ride. He deserves this, it is his first Group One - it's all of our first Group One apart from William who had one back when the dinosaurs were doing it.
“It's fantastic. I was sitting next to Luca Cumani who half a furlong out looked at me and said ‘you've got this’. If Luca Cumani says that then you know you've got it.
"I'm so proud of Lady Bowthorpe. I'm proud of Kieran who had a lot of pressure and he has had some bad luck on her and today we won. I pay the bills, that's all I do really. William is a fantastic trainer, he has lots of my horses. They are not all as good as this one unfortunately.”
Reaction from beaten connections
Shadwell’s Angus Gold said of the runner-up: “If you told me a year ago Zeyaadah would win a Listed, a Group 3 and be second in a Group 1, I would have been very excited at the thought of that. So I am thrilled.
"She will stick at that sort of trip. Jim [Crowley] didn’t mention the ground. She won on bottomless, but I don’t think that was for her. Jim did say she was moving beautifully. It's a great result for Emma Banks and William Jarvis."
Audarya’s rider William Buick said: “I would say that Audarya just didn't pick up on that ground. She won on fast ground at Royal Ascot and whilst she has run well in some big races on similar ground to today, the difference was that it is just so tacky and gluey. For me, it was the ground that was the issue today."
Timeform: David Cleary analysis
Sometimes even a wizened Timeform analyst has to admit that racing isn't all about the figures, and there has hardly been a more heart-warming victory in a big Flat race this season than Lady Bowthorpe's success in the Nassau Stakes. The mare herself is just so likeable, her trainer William Jarvis was gaining his first Group 1 success since 1994 and her young rider Kieran Shoemark his first ever, after issues in his career that might have blown others off course.
Lady Bowthorpe had had a couple of near misses in Group 1s this summer, stronger ones than this in truth, but she looked well served by the step up to a mile and a quarter for the first time, quickening to the front, then seeing the race out well in the final furlong. She's not in the International at York, but the Prix de l'Opera against her own sex or the Champion Stakes at Ascot might be autumn options.
With fellow five-year-old Audarya disappointing and Joan of Arc unable to progress again on her form in winning the Diane, Lady Bowthorpe may not have needed to improve, but the style of victory promises a little more. It was left to Zeyaadah to take second, putting up an improved effort. Zeyaadah didn't give her running in the Oaks, but her profile is otherwise a progressive one and she looks worth another try at a mile and a half.