THE Danzig (by Northern Dancer) line has long been associated with speed at the highest levels and it may add yet another Group 1 star to its roll of honour if La Rioja lives up to the promise she showed nine days ago.

She was runner-up in a six-furlong maiden on her debut at Lingfield in June, took a similar contest by five lengths at Newbury a month later, and then thrashed the pattern-placed stakes winner Whatdoiwantthatfor by four and a half lengths in the Group 3 Country Gentlemen’s Association Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes at Salisbury, her first try on soft ground.