COOLMORE NUNTHORPE

STAKES (GROUP 1)

IT was billed as the ultimate clash between two flying machines - Wesley Ward’s brilliant Royal Ascot winner Lady Aurelia and the hugely progressive Glorious Goodwood hero Battaash.

But horses have no knowledge of scripts or scriptwriters and yesterday’s Group 1 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes did not work out that way at all as it was Sir Mark Prescott’s Marsha, coming from some way off the pace on the stands’ side, who nailed Lady Aurelia in the final stride. Battaash, decidedly on edge and reluctant to enter the stalls beforehand, dropped away as Cotai Glory came through for third.

Lady Aurelia led, as everyone knew she would, and soon had most of the opposition burned off as she scorched down the centre of the track. Frankie Dettori did not get serious with her until approaching the final furlong, and it seemed from here that another British Group 1 was secured.

However, well inside the final furlong, Marsha, responding to a flat-out drive by Luke Morris, cut her down gradually and got her head down right on the line for a famous win. To his subsequent embarrassment, Dettori raised his arm in triumph but the photo revealed that he was beaten a nose.

Marsha is a filly who can struggle with the early pace, as she showed when failing to chase down Battaash in the King George Stakes at Goodwood but she had just enough ground to run into yesterday and was winning her second Group 1.

Successful in the Prix de l’Abbaye last year and very impressive in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket, Marsha is owned by the Elite Racing Club and was trained to perfection by Sir Mark, who was away in Ireland looking at yearlings yesterday but repeated his feat of 21 years ago when Pivotal claimed this race on the Knavesmire.

UNSURE

“I wasn’t sure I’d won and when I saw Frankie raise his arm I was gutted and thought we must have been beaten,” Morris said. “But we got a perfect tow into the race today and she ran all the way to the line. I’ve been with Sir Mark for five years now and he is simply a genius. It’s great for so many ordinary, everyday individuals to have a share in a horse like this.”

Ward was typically generous following Lady Aurelia’s defeat.

“She ran a fantastic race and she’s a true champion. But let’s not take anything away from the other filly, who chased us down and won on merit. But, yes, the ground was a shade easy for us.”

That was indeed the way of it, though faster times during the day saw Lady Aurelia shorten to 10/11 favourite as Battaash drifted ominously. It simply wasn’t his day and it will be little comfort to Charlie Hills that stable-companion Cotai Glory nicked third. In this wonderful sport, who would ever have said that this 50/1 chance would come out the better of the Hills-trained pair?