Chesham Stakes preview: Natalie's Joy seeks to enhance reputation

Natalie’s Joy will start favourite for the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday with Mark Johnston, her trainer, believing she is the best juvenile filly in his yard.

Johnston struck on Friday in the Albany Stakes with Main Edition, but, as the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Natalie’s Joy, who is by French Guineas and Derby winner Lope De Vega, put up a striking performance at Goodwood last month.

She blitzed the field by six lengths and stopped the clock 0.07sec outside subsequent French and Irish 2000 Guineas winner Bachir’s juvenile track record set in 1999. Bachir set his time on good to firm, whereas Natalie’s Joy ran on good.

“We’ve won most of the two-year-old Group races here and I always felt experience counted for a lot,” Johnston said at Royal Ascot on Friday. “The Chesham is often the one you can get away with it a little bit, which is why we have gone to that race.

“It also worked out that Main Edition did not qualify for the race so we could keep them apart here. She’s a one raced, once winner in what looked like an astonishing time.”

Natalie’s Joy faces 10 rivals and is no better than 7-4 to give the Middleham trainer a fourth win in the race following Pearl Of Love in 2003, Helm Bank in 2002 and Celtic Silence in 2000.

“We are very, very hopeful and we would have said she was our number one filly coming in to the meeting,” he said.

“She is very tall, and I’m told she’s 16.1 – a very big filly. Main Edition is big and she’s significantly bigger. We didn’t think she’d be an early one at all, but then she started winning gallops.

“So we went to Goodwood thinking it might be all too sharp for her and struggle to go the pace down the hill, but it was no trouble for her at all and hence the time. It was an illustration of what she was doing on the gallops at home, but it is fair to say we were not expecting that.”