In the red corner there’s Nashwa, the defending champion and back to her brilliant best in the Falmouth Stakes last time.
In the blue, well she has to be, Blue Rose Cen, a Group One-devouring machine from France heading over the Channel for the first time hot on the hooves of victories in the French 1000 Guineas and Oaks.
However you want to dress it up, today’s Qatar Nassau Stakes is the clash of the week.
Nashwa’s season looked to be going nowhere until John Gosden, off the back of a narrow defeat in a Newcastle Group Three, dusted down his big dice to take the detour to Newmarket.
Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Imad Alsagar, apparently thought the trainer had been ‘smoking something’ when devising the plan. They were able to reflect in the collective glory afterwards.
A Timeform performance figure of 130 in thundering five lengths clear of Remarquee and co on the July Course represented a career-best for the daughter of Frankel. Some think the drop to a mile played a part, others that reverting to hold-up tactics was more significant.
That patient approach might work a treat today too with her main rival likely to want to go forward but unlikely to be given a free shot at things by Above The Curve.
We know Nashwa handles the course and some cut in the ground, the conditions certainly won’t be an issue for Blue Rose Cen.
Her question marks are the twist, turns and undulations of this unique track and the fact she needs to find six pounds improvement on Timeform figures to match a peak Nashwa.
David Johnson, Flat Editor for the ratings gurus, pointed out on this week’s Sporting Life Podcast that the three-year-olds are at disadvantage in terms of numbers until they take on their elders and are able to send their three digits further north.
She gets that chance today in a Nassau of the ages. Anglo-French heavyweight bouts have been a little thin on the ground in recent years. But with the weather set to play ball we can sit back and enjoy a genuine one today.
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