Natagora wins 1,000 Guineas classic

French raider Natagora, the 11-4 favourite, made all the running under jockey Christophe Lemaire to win the English 1,000 Guineas classic for fillies at Newmarket on Sunday.

The grey held on by half a length from 11-2 chance Spacious with 20-1 outsider Saoirse Abu the same distance away in third.

Lemaire, who won on Natagora in a top juvenile race at Newmarket last October, told Channel 4 Racing: "She gave me all she had. She's a fantastic filly."

The victory was compensation for trainer Pascal Bary whose filly Six Perfections was a hugely unlucky loser of the 1,000 Guineas in 2003 after failing to gain a clear run.

On Saturday, Henrythenavigator, trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Johnny Murtagh, won the 2,000 Guineas for colts, the opening classic of the European season.

But the pair were out of luck on Sunday, Murtagh coming home ninth of the 15th runners on the filly Kitty Matcham.

Dubai Disappointment

Richard Hughes was left to rue his misfortune aboard Mick Channon's 33-1 chance Nahoodh, who was beaten a little over a length.

Nahoodh is owned by Dubai businessman Jaber Abdullah and Hughes said: "I had a great position at halfway and was travelling well, but just when I was going to move up a place or two at the three-furlong pole she hit a flat spot.

"She came good again at the two-furlong pole and I wanted her to bring me into the race but all the others came left.

"I then ran into the back of the winner. Nine times out of 10 they would have come off the rail when they heard the crowd and I was banking on them doing that as I couldn't go round the field.
"I felt I would have won. Nahoodh can win at Ascot and make amends."

The other Dubai-owned contenders, Godolphin’s Laureldean Gale and Deputy Ruler of Dubai Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Muthabara finished out of the places.

Muthabara, who had suffered an 11th-hour injury scare and did not look in tip-top condition, with signs of a woolly winter coat still showing, shadowed Natagora but ran flat over the final furlong to finish eighth, three and half lengths adrift of the winner.

She still looks open to improvement later in the season despite this lackluster performance.
Laureldean Gale, under Frankie Dettori, failed to shine in the race and was struggling when hampered and eased two furlongs out to finish 13th of the 15 runners.