Falmouth Stakes declarations: rain needed for Via Sistina

Progressive Group One winner Via Sistina heads the market for Friday's Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket but the star mare will only run if ground conditions are suitable on the July Course, reports George Boughey.

The local trainer - who took over the five-year-old's training when fortmer handler Joe Tuite retired last year - is confident of a big run if sufficient rain does arrive in time, however. she will be competitive if there is some rain.

“I’ve been happy with her since she won in Ireland and she couldn’t be training much better, but she will need some rain," Boughey told QIPCO British Champions Series. "It’s fast going. I walked the track twice on Monday and it was faster in the evening than the morning following a drying day.

“She’s a filly who has really come into her own in the last six months now that she’s fully matured, but she was a questionable runner in Ireland until they had just enough rain to run her. Should we have proper good ground I’d hope she would take her chance and I think she can prove pretty competitive in that field."

Boughey added: “She has plenty of pace and a good turn of foot, so I’d have no worries dropping back to a mile, especially on a straight track. She’s a high-class filly, but she has plenty of opportunities to come, and if we don’t see her in the Falmouth, her next start is likely to be in the Nassau.”

Prosperous Voyage bids to join Sonic Lady and Soviet Song as a dual winner of the prestigious Group One race but she will face strong opposition from within her own camp as part of a strong hand for trainer Ralph Beckett.

Prosperous Voyage sprang a surprise when beating the short-priced Inspiral last year and the title-holder deserves every respect in her follow-up bid, yet she also has to contend with shorter-priced stablemate Remarquee on Friday after the three-year-old's runner-up effort in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The Kingman filly has since been bought privately by the Emir of Qatar’s fast-rising Wathnan Racing, which enjoyed major success at the royal meeting with recent purchases Courage Mon Ami and Gregory after going desperately close in France with another in Isaac Shelby.

Beckett said: “It was great to have Remarquee back to her best in the Coronation Stakes.

“Wathnan is obviously an organisation which is going to grow and they are looking for horses to run in Group Ones. Remarquee is a Group One performer with a very good pedigree [from the family of the trainer's former Oaks winner Look Here], so obviously it makes very good sense for them. They’ve made a flying start here with Courage Mon Ami and Gregory. Let’s hope Remarquee is the third one off the rank.”

While seemingly sweet on the chance of Remarquee, Beckett - who reports that both fillies worked well last weekend - is far from dismissive about Prosperous Voyage.

The four-year-old beat Random Harvest and Astral Blue in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom last month and then finished a place behind Random Harvest when the pair were beaten by Rogue Millennium in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot.

“I’m happy with Prosperous Voyage,” Beckett told QIPCO British Champions Series. “It didn’t go to plan for her at Ascot, as they went very slow and she’s a filly who likes to roll along. She won the Falmouth last year, and we are looking forward to running her back there.”

Beckett has booked William Buick for Prosperous Voyage and regular rider Rob Hornby on Remarquee.

“Rob is the only one to have ridden Remarquee, and although he rode Prosperous Voyage a year ago he hasn’t ridden her this year," said the trainer.

Random Harvest provides 21-year-old Saffie Osborne a great opportunity in a Group One in her first season without a claim.

Osborne told QIPCO British Champions Series: “Having a ride like her in my first year without a claim is massive. I had a ride for dad in the Gold Cup last year, but Random Harvest will be my first live chance in one and it’s so exciting. To ride a homebred for Lady Bamford and for her to do so well is really special. I rode her at the weekend and she felt great.

“She’s been unbelievable for me. I got on her at Royal Ascot last year when she was rated 81 and we were beaten only a neck by Rising Star in the Kensington Palace. We won a Group 3 in Milan after that and this year we’ve been second in the Princess Elizabeth at Epsom on Derby Day and in the Duke Of Cambridge at Royal Ascot, beaten a neck there again. She’s rated 108 now, so she’s improved about two stone in a year.”

Nashwa was added to the Flamouth field at a cost of £20,000 last weekend and the Nassau Stakes winner will be having her first race at a mile since she won her maiden by a wide margin last year.

Her trainers John and Thady Gosden also saddle Coppice, who disappointed when favourite for the Nell Gwyn Stakes on her reappearance but has earned this return to such company after landing the Sandringham Handicap off a mark of 97 at Royal Ascot.

A field of nine is completed by the Roger Varian-trained Ameynah, who makes her belated return to action after finishing a very promising sixth in last year’s QIPCO 1000 Guineas, as well as Aidan O'Brien's Never Ending Story, who was well beaten behind Via Sistina last time but was previously a four-length second in the Prix de Diane.