Qatar Nassau Stakes (Group 1)

ON paper, the highlight of the third day at Goodwood is the Nassau Stakes, and that’s exactly what it was after a thrilling win for Mitsuru Hashida’s five-year-old mare Deirdre, who was given a superb ride by Oisin Murphy to overhaul longtime leader Mehdaayih (John Gosden/Frankie Dettori) and Sir Michael Stoute’s Rawdaa (Danny Tudhope).

Frankie Dettori was intent on ensuring that dual Guineas heroine Hermosa should not have things her own way in front, which led to an unexpectedly strong pace, with Mehdaayih getting quite lit up, and Dettori deserves credit for eventually getting her to drop the bit.

Hermosa was clearly not helped by being taken on, but the way she capitulated to be beaten almost 50 lengths suggests that something was amiss with Aidan O’Brien’s daughter of Galileo, for all this was new territory for her in terms of trip.

Brave

It looked like Mehdaayih would hold on a furlong out, but her early exertions began to tell from that point, and although she kept on bravely, she wandered off the rail as she tired, and gave Murphy and Deirdre a perfect opportunity to steal up the inside. The daughter of Harbinger was able to land her fifth group success on turf which was riding on the firm side of good, and suited her so much better than the soft surface she experience in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Mr Hashida’s daughter, who is also the racing manager for owner Toji Morita, was delighted with the success of the popular racemare, and said: “That was a special performance from Deirdre. It is fantastic to have a winner at the Qatar Goodwood Festival. This is very important not only for us, but also for the whole of Japan to come over to Britain and have a big-race winner.

“It is important for Japan because it showed that it is not just possible to come here and compete, but that it is also possible to win. Hopefully, we can have a good influence on Japanese racing with this win.”