Cachet and Hello You bidding to boost Classic claims in Nell Gwyn

Fillies bringing strong juvenile form to the table at Newmarket.

Cachet bids to get her season off to the ideal start in Tuesday’s Lanwades Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket.

The George Boughey-trained daughter of Acclaim was a close-up fourth to Pizza Bianca in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf on her final start of last season.

Having gone down by a length in a bunched finish, Cachet’s strong effort was franked last week when runner-up Malavath landed the Group Three Prix Imprudence at Deauville. Other winners have also come from the Del Mar feature.

Boughey said: “That form was given a good boost when Francis-Henri Graffard’s horse won in France. That was nice to see.”

Though the Highclere Thoroughbred-owned Cachet won just one of her eight starts in an industrious two-year-old campaign, her Newmarket handler feels she has strengthened up over the winter.

Boughey added: “Although she was busy at two, she had a good break in the middle of the summer and had a proper break at the National Stud in the winter.

“Fortunately, she has come back and not missed a day’s training, so it is one of those things where she has been pretty straightforward.

“If she had missed, she would be behind the kick, but she hasn’t. She looks great. She is a filly who got physically better as the year went on and I think she will do that again.

“She was a little bit weak at the backend of last year, but hopefully she will see out the mile better this year.

George Boughey feels Cachet has strengthened up over the winter
George Boughey feels Cachet has strengthened up over the winter (Mike Egerton/PA)

“This is a good stepping stone and looks a race where she should be very competitive.”

Cachet, as short as 25-1 with William Hill for the Qipco 1000 Guineas, will take on eight rivals in the Group Three contest on a straight seven furlongs of the Rowley Mile course that has seen little rain over the past few weeks.

Boughey feels conditions will suit and added: “I think her career-best was on Del Mar on firm ground.

“I have never really worried about the ground with her. We ran her on heavy ground at Ascot and was very happy to run her on fast ground in Del Mar.

“She has a fast-ground action and seems to handle anything.”

Cachet will renew rivalry with Hello You, who beat her by a length and a half in the Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket on their penultimate start, a race that was just outside the track record.

David Loughnane’s filly was subsequently three-quarters of a length behind Cachet in America, but the Shropshire handler feels the daughter of Invincible Spirit will progress from her seasonal bow and on to the second Classic of the season, for which she is 20-1 with Paddy Power.

“She beat Cachet in the Rockfel comfortably and we were point-four of a second outside the track record that day,” said Loughnane.

Hello You will be reunited with Rossa Ryan at Newmarket
Hello You will be reunited with Rossa Ryan at Newmarket (Mike Egerton/PA)

“The track really suits her and she wasn’t 100 per cent in America. I would very much put a line through that run. She didn’t run a bad race, but she definitely was not 100 per cent.

“Her target is very much the 1000 Guineas and we are very much aiming to have her peaking on that day.

“She is not completely would up for Tuesday, but she is as good as anything in the race.”

Hello You will be partnered by Rossa Ryan as she takes on rivals who include William Haggas’ Perfect News and Marco Botti’s unbeaten Ribbon Rose.

Though hopeful, Loughnane cautioned: “She might just need her first race. If she does, she does, if she doesn’t, she’ll be there in the business of things.

“It is a long season ahead and we didn’t want to over-cook her, so she has done very well and we are very happy with her. She has grown nicely.

“She did a nice piece of work 10 days ago at Wolverhampton and we are very pleased with her.”

Hello You is 20-1 with Coral and Paddy Power for the 1000 Guineas and Loughnane feels she will stay the trip, despite her fifth-place finish on her first attempt over a mile at Del Mar.

“I would like to think she will handle the step up to a mile. I don’t see as a problem whatsoever. She has obviously proved she goes on any ground and she handled most tracks.

“She was very consistent last year and you never know until you run them whether they have trained on or not, but she has certainly shown the right signs.”

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