Qatar Nassau Stakes report and replay: Brave Opera Singer makes all
By David Ord
18:51 · THU August 01, 2024
Opera Singer held off See The Fire to win a thrilling renewal of the Qatar Nassau Stakes, providing trainer Aidan O'Brien with a fifth success in the Group One feature.
The 9/4 chance was given a fine front-running ride by Ryan Moore although Lumiere Rock applied pressure from over two furlongs out.
Having beaten off that rival, the daughter of Justify then had to dig deep inside the distance as the 16/1 runner-up produced a renewed challenge under Oisin Murphy, and held on well to score by a neck.
Prix de Diane heroine Sparkling Plenty (13/2) was the late closer and was only three-quarters-of-a-length adrift in third.
Disappointment of the race was 7/4 favourite Emily Upjohn who raced in the last trio for much of the contest and only made laboured progress into sixth.
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Sky Bet cut the winner to 6/1 from 8/1 for the Yorkshire Oaks later this month. Betfair and Paddy Power are 5/1 from 12s for the same race and unchanged at 12/1 for the Arc, for which Opera Singer was Matt Brocklebank's Antepost Value Bet selection.
Moore said: "I was very confident she would stay. The only reason she didn't run in the Guineas was because she had a little setback. She started late in the Irish Guineas on ground that was slow on the day, which didn't suit her. She still ran very well.
"She ran a super race at Ascot, where she was beat by Donnacha's good filly (Porta Fortuna), and we always felt when she won the Boussac at a mile last year that, staying on very well, we always thought she she would be a 10 or 12-furlong filly.
"It suited her today. We're still learning about her but she's shown herself to be top class. She should build on this as well. She does everything beautifully. She's fine at ten but I don't think 12 would be an issue. When she won the Boussac on her last year I thought she was an Arc filly."
Thumbs up from Ryan Moore
Arc firmly on the agenda for winner
O'Brien added: "When Ryan got off her last year after she won the Marcel Boussac, he said this filly could come back and win the Arc. She’s a very special filly. Ryan gave her an incredible ride, too, but he was so confident about her. He makes it happen all the time for us.
“We had an interrupted spring with her; she was barely ready for a racecourse gallop when she went to the Curragh for the Guineas, and then we left her to go straight to Ascot, where she ran a great race. All we were wanting to do was step her up to a mile and a quarter, and that was here. Obviously, there’s every chance she will get a mile and a half. She’s very classy. Ryan just said she was waiting in front - to do that in front of a bunch of fillies like that, and she fought as well, so you’d have to be pleased with that.
“She’ll go to one of the fillies; races in France [before the Arc] and she can have a run around the track and that kind of thing. Something like that, but the lads will decide what they want to do. I don’t think she needs to be tested at 12 furlongs before the Arc, necessarily. She could do it, but we always thought she’ll stay. She’d have to run before then, anyway."
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Andrew Balding said of the runner-up See The Fire: " She is a very good filly and I am sure her turn will come. I am proud of the effort. It is just annoying being beaten two races in a row , Aidan can go home!"
Sparkling Plenty's trainer Patrice Cottier said: ''She just got a little unbalanced but I am pleased with the run. It was always the plan to ride her at the back because we wanted her to relax. She finished really well. She might go for the Prix Vermeille and then we shall see.''
Thady Gosden said of Emily Upjohn: ''We were drawn in stall 10 which is never ideal here. She was a touch slowly away but travelled well in the early part of the race. Coming down the hill she did not pick up how you would have expected her to do. She seems fine afterwards.
''Naturally, when you start favourite let alone a Group One if they don't quite run how you expect them too it's disappointing. She is in good condition afterwards and she did not take long to cool down. We move on. The mile-and-a-half Yorkshire Oaks on a very fair track is a race which would suit her well.''
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