True Cyan takes Nell Gwyn leap on seasonal bow

Newmarket maiden winner pitched into Group Three on her return.

Roger Varian’s True Cyan will be put to the test in the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday.

The grey is a daughter of No Nay Never and the smart mare Realtra, a multiple Group winner who was also trained at Carlburg Stables by Varian.

True Cyan has run once to date, competing in a seven-furlong maiden on the Rowley Mile last September and prevailing by a length and a half.

She now returns to the same course and distance but at Group Three level to test her credentials in the Nell Gwynn, a race that can often serve as a trial to the various 1000 Guineas contests in Europe.

“She won her maiden well on the same track last autumn, we’re really on a mission to find out where we might go with her and what we might do this season,” said Chris Wall, racing manager to owner Shaikh Khalid’s KHK Racing organisation.

“It looks a good opportunity to do that, it’s a competitive race and depending on how we run, we’ll know what we’re going to do in the future.

“She’s wintered well, she’s been training satisfactorily, we’re hopeful of a positive effort and then we’ll take it from there.”

There are proven Group performers in the race in Matrika and Dance Sequence and those horses will act as good yardsticks for True Cyan as connections seek to understand her calibre.

“If you’re going to be stakes class, you’ll have to be up there competing with them – and if not, we’ll have to go down another route with her,” Wall said.

“We’ll see, we’ll know a lot more after her run tomorrow but she’s done everything in the right way and has been training nicely, we’re hoping for a nice run.”

Dance Sequence (right) winning the Oh So Sharp Stakes
Dance Sequence (right) winning the Oh So Sharp Stakes (Nigel French/PA)

Godolphin and Charlie Appleby’s Dance Sequence heads the market at present.

A winner of a July Course maiden last summer, the Dubawi filly then contested the Oh So Sharp over the Nell Gwyn course and distance and prevailed again.

That latter run was at Group Three level and the three-year-old now returns to start her season at the same grade.

“Dance Sequence has done very well over the winter,” Appleby said on the Godolphin website.

“She has already won over the course and distance in the Oh So Sharp Stakes and looks the one to beat again.”

Aidan O’Brien is represented in the race by Matrika, another daughter of No Nay Never who steps up to seven furlongs having last been seen winning the Group Two Airlie Stud Stakes at the Curragh.

Matrika (left) winning the Airlie Stud Stakes
Matrika (left) winning the Airlie Stud Stakes (Brian Lawless/PA)

Prior to that, she won her maiden and was second in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot when coming home a length behind subsequent Cheveley Park heroine Porta Fortuna.

Ryan Moore takes the ride and told Betfair: “Dance Sequence has looked pretty good in winning in both her starts, including the Oh So Sharp Stakes, but I don’t think my filly is far behind her, if at all.

“Her only defeat came in the Albany at Royal Ascot, when second to the subsequent Cheveley Park winner and Breeders’ Cup runner-up Porta Fortuna, and she did it well for me in a Group Two at the Curragh subsequently.

“We didn’t see her after that win in July but the fact that she is here speaks for itself, Aidan has his horses in very good nick and, while she has plenty of speed, I’d have thought she will get the extra furlong here OK.

“But there are a few promising horses in this, and this certainly isn’t a straight match between us and the Godolphin horse, for all Dance Sequence is the hot favourite in here, I see.”

Elsewhere in the race is John and Thady Gosden’s Spiritual, fourth in the Rockfel on her last outing of 2023, with Richard Fahey’s Dubawi filly Pretty Crystal entered after collecting a Group Three placing last term.

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