Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes
Group 2, Goodwood 14:30
£300,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus fillies and mares,
1m 6f, Class 1   
Saturday 2nd August 2025

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1 Waardah 7/2
3 Danielle 10/1
3 Goodie Two Shoes 4/1
8 ran NR: Oxford Comma Distances: ¾l, 4¼l, nse
Time: 3m 4.08s (slow by 2.68s)

Unexposed, unflustered and now undeniably upwardly mobile — Waardah stepped up both in distance and class to land her first Group success with a well-earned victory.

In a race that played out like a chess match in the early stages, Callum Rodriguez adopted the patient approach, anchoring Waardah towards the rear as the field dawdled through the opening exchanges. But as the tempo lifted entering the final three furlongs, the daughter of  Sea The Stars  cruised into contention — Rodriguez simply easing her wide, keeping his cool while others around him began to blink.

She hit the front inside the two-furlong marker, and although Danielle — on her seasonal return — threw everything at her along the inner, Waardah found more when it mattered. The pair pulled over four lengths clear of the rest in a stirring duel, but it was Owen Burrows’ filly who edged it with something to spare — the margin three-quarters of a length, but the impression of greater dominance lingered.

It marks a second win on the Downs this season for Waardah, who also took the Listed Agnes Keyser Stakes here in June. While still learning on the job, she’s doing so in the right races.

“She’s honest, but green,” said Burrows afterwards. “Callum thought he might have got there too soon, but she switched off beautifully. When Danielle came upsides, I thought we might be in trouble — but in the last half-furlong she was probably going away again.”

Burrows was quick to underline the filly’s potential for middle distances and beyond: “She’ll have no issue dropping back to a mile and a half, and the Yorkshire Oaks is under consideration — although she’d appreciate some ease in the ground. Long term, Ascot’s Fillies & Mares on Champions Day would be right up her street.”

Reflecting on her quieter two-year-old campaign, he added: “We were always going to take our time with her — she’s bred to stay and improve with age. She’s been a bit keen at home and we couldn’t get her on the grass through the spring, so we had to be patient. But she’s maturing the right way now.”

Rodriguez, fresh from a much-talked-about emergency plane landing earlier in the week, was clearly relieved to finish this one on four legs rather than three wheels.

“It’s been a bit of a week,” he admitted, “but this helps put it right. Waardah’s a classy filly — she switched off beautifully and travelled into it almost too well. She idled a bit when she hit the front, but when Danielle came to her, she found again. She’s improving fast and I think there’s more to come.”

Danielle, returning from a lengthy break, lost little in defeat. Thady Gosden was encouraged: “She hadn’t had a run all season and she’s a very honest filly. That was a lovely reappearance. We’d been dodging quicker ground with her, but the rain helped. The Park Hill at Doncaster would make sense next.”

And while Goodie Two Shoes wasn’t a factor on the day, Sir AP McCoy, representing JP McManus, offered typically dry humour: “If Noreen hadn’t bred her, JP would say she’s a failed jumper! But she’s a good mare, well placed, and it was decent prize money.”

For Waardah though, the road now winds further — and longer. On this evidence, she has the gears and the grit to follow it wherever it leads.

SureWIn

Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes, Group 2
£300,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus fillies and mares, 1m 6f, Class 1
8 ran
Going: Good to Soft, Good in places

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (3)    Waardah 3 8-13 Owen Burrows Callum Rodriguez 7/2
2 (6) ¾ Danielle 4 9-9 John & Thady Gosden James Doyle 10/1
3 (2) 4¼ Goodie Two Shoes 6 9-9 Joseph O'Brien William Buick 4/1
4 (1) nse Term Of Endearment 6 9-9 William Haggas Tom Marquand 3/1F
5 (9) 2¼ Royal Entry 4 9-9 P Twomey Colin Keane 6/1
6 (8) ¾ Sueno 4 9-9 John & Thady Gosden Robert Havlin 13/2
7 (4) 3 Allonsy 4 9-9 Ralph Beckett Rossa Ryan 22/1
8 (7) ¾ Serenity Prayer 3 8-13 Andrew Balding Ryan Moore 12/1
NR 4 (5) Oxford Comma 4 9-9 Ralph Beckett NON RUNNER

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