Nashwa stepping up a gear as comeback nears

Tony Kelshaw
September 17, 2024 1:19 pm

The mare is a crucial part of her owner’s racing and breeding operation.

Nashwa is on the comeback trail but connections feel it is too early to pinpoint any specific targets for John and Thady Gosden’s high-class mare.

The five-year-old enjoyed a superb Classic campaign in 2022, finishing third in the Oaks at Epsom before winning the French equivalent and following up with a Nassau Stakes success.

Last season she added a Falmouth Stakes triumph to her CV, as well as finishing second in the Juddmonte International and a close third in the Irish Champion Stakes.

The Boodles July Festival 2023 – Festival Friday – Newmarket Racecourse — Nashwa and Hollie Doyle winning the Falmouth Stakes (David Davies/PA).

However, Nashwa has not been seen in public since competing in the Dubai Turf at Meydan back in March, where she was ninth behind Facteur Cheval.

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Imad Al Sagar, said: “She’s in full work at the moment and moving nicely, but we’re not quite there yet with a plan, or even an objective.

“She’s in good form but because she took some time to get over her trip to Dubai, and we gave her that time, obviously John has been mindful of trying to bring her on incrementally.

“She’s a big, scopey filly and obviously getting her back to match fitness is the first main objective and then, of course, trying to identify the right target and getting the right lead in.

“But we haven’t quite got there yet and it’s just too early to say.

“She only really started working last week, but we were always mindful of an autumn campaign and things like the Prix de l’Opera and British Champions Day are still very much part of the thinking.

“But we just have to get her further on so we’re confident to say ‘yes, that’s where we’d like to head’ but there’s certainly nothing definitive yet.

“She’s an incredibly important filly for Imad and she’s already a three-time Group One winner and a Classic winner – and by Frankel, so she’d be important to anybody, to say the least.

“She’s going to be very important to the stud and from that point of view, we just have to play her as we find her.”