Visit Qatar Nassau Stakes

Group 1, Goodwood 15:05
£600,000 guaranteed,
Fillies & Mares, 3yo plus,
1m 1f 197y, Class 1   
Thursday 31st July 2025

SureWIn

It looks like Goodwood is calling for Joe Murphy and his pint-sized powerhouse Cercene, as plans for an audacious tilt at the Irish Oaks appear to be on ice—at least for now.

Fresh from her fairytale 33-1 triumph in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot—one of those wins that warms the soul as much as it lights up the formbook—talk quickly turned to a potential Classic raid at the Curragh. But with heads cooled and hooves carefully considered, it’s the Visit Qatar Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood that now takes top billing.

“She came out of Ascot very well and we are very happy with her,” Murphy said, still glowing in the afterglow of that magical afternoon. “We were thinking about the Juddmonte Irish Oaks, but the Nassau is probably more likely now. And from there, we’re definitely thinking Matron Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival.”

A classic case of small filly, big heart. Cercene, barely more than a whisper in the betting ring before Ascot, turned that Coronation field inside out and sent shockwaves through the summer air. Murphy, a man who’d waited half a century for his first Group One, found himself fielding over a thousand messages in the aftermath.

“It was like winning an All-Ireland,” he said with a grin. “Fifty years waiting for one—and now, of course, you want a second, don’t you?”

And with Cercene still ticking all the right boxes at home, who’s to say there isn’t another chapter to be written yet? Onward to Goodwood, perhaps. And if she shines again, the road to Leopardstown will be paved with just a little more expectation—and just as much heart.

It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster renewal, with a roll call of Classic heroines queuing up for glory in one of Goodwood’s standout contests.

Front and centre are Minnie Hauk and Whirl, the one-two from this year’s Epsom Oaks, both flying the Ballydoyle flag for Aidan O’Brien. They’re joined by another Group 1-winning stablemate in Fallen Angel, who stormed to Irish 1,000 Guineas success and now adds extra firepower to an already potent Irish raid.

All three boast heavyweight form credentials heading into what looks a typically deep and fascinating renewal.

The O’Brien-trained Garden Of Eden proved a staying star in the Ribblesdale, while Crimson Advocate, already a Goodwood winner, lit up the Duke of Cambridge Stakes under Wathnan Racing’s soaring banner. John and Thady Gosden's filly now has black type at both ends of the trip and remains firmly on an upward curve.

One who knows this race well is See The Fire, a close second here last year and now reborn as a major player. Andrew Balding’s filly produced a demolition job in the Middleton at York and proved her versatility with a brave third against the boys in the Prince of Wales’s. She returns with unfinished business—and form that screams contender.

The supporting cast is hardly short of intrigue either. Estrange, carrying the red, white and blue of Cheveley Park, has rattled off a hat-trick for David O’Meara and looked every inch Group 1-bound when scooting away in the Lester Piggott Stakes.

And from across the Channel comes Dare To Dream, Gavin Hernon’s upwardly mobile French raider who’s quietly building her CV and could yet spring a surprise on the Sussex Downs.

With multiple Group 1 winners, Classic form aplenty, and a cast as deep as it is talented, the Nassau is shaping up to be a midsummer jewel not to be missed.

Qatar Nassau Stakes
(British Champions Series)
£600,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 1m 1f 197y, Class 1
33 entries
Going:

NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 46221- Beechwood 5 9-9 P Twomey
2 936-15 Bubble Gum 4 4 9-9 P Twomey
3 12-212 Cinderella's Dream 4 9-9 Charlie Appleby
4 10-211 Crimson Advocate 4 9-9 John & Thady Gosden
5 579-95 Dare To Dream 4 9-9 Gavin Hernon
6 171-1 Estrange 4 9-9 David O'Meara
7 124-63 Fallen Angel 4 9-9 K R Burke
8 131-66 Higher Leaves 4 9-9 Henry De Bromhead
9 60-317 Magical Hope 4 9-9 P Twomey
10 361-31 Morrophore 4 9-9 John & Thady Gosden
11 12-126 One Look 4 9-9 P Twomey
12 12533- Purple Lily 4 9-9 P Twomey
13 813-34 Royal Dress 5 9-9 James Tate
14 72-524 Running Lion 5 9-9 John & Thady Gosden
15 35-513 See The Fire 4 9-9 Andrew Balding
16 643-31 Spiritual 4 9-9 John & Thady Gosden
17 177-23 Survie 4 9-9 N Clement & F Hermans
8 61/6-2 Tasmania 5 9-9 Sir Mark Prescott Bt
19 117 Atsila 3 9-0 Donnacha O'Brien
20 155-62 Bedtime Story 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
21 123 Catalina Delcarpio 3 9-0 P Twomey
22 12-44 Cathedral 3 9-0 Ralph Beckett
23 7-3231 Cercene 3 9-0 Joseph G Murphy
24 1-47 Elwateen 3 9-0 Saeed bin Suroor
25 31-246 Exactly 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
26 1-19 Falakeyah 3 9-0 Owen Burrows
27 0-7611 Garden Of Eden 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
28 213-15 Giselle 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
29 122-83 January 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
30 21-11 Minnie Hauk 3 9-0 A P O'Brien
31 4-11 Pina Sonata 3 9-0 James Fanshawe
32 3-5144 Wemightakedlongway 3 9-0 Joseph O'Brien
33 1-6121 Whirl 3 9-0 A P O'Brien

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