1000 Guineas

Confidently ridden by leading jockey Dane Nelson, Above and Beyond slammed the 14-horse field by 6-1/2 lengths for Nunes’s 22^nd Classic triumph in a fast one minute 38.80 seconds in the JA$2.8 Million (US$19.600) one-mile run for owners Rawdon Persad, Vickram Oditt & Rajendra Poonai.

Trainer Gary Subratie’s 5-2 second favourite ‘Another Affair’ was second and denied Nunes the top-three sweep as his long shots Sencity (26-1) and Glock (41-1) snatched third and fourth positions respectively.

It was Nunes’s fourth Fillies Guineas victory after ‘Latonia’ in 2004, ‘Selectabook’ (2013) and ‘I Am Di One’ last year. Nunes has now won five of the last six Classics at Caymanas Park, including his 2019 Triple Crown run with the colt ‘Supreme Soul’.

Breaking smartly from the 14-box, Above and Beyond raced very relaxed with the pacesetters down the backstretch and looked the winner from mid-race.

The chestnut filly, by ‘Blue Pepsi Lodge’ out of ‘Rumble’, cruised to the lead and when she quickened away from the busy Robert Halledeen aboard the chasing Another Affair leaving the half-mile, the picture of her motionless jockey told the story of race control.

Above and Beyond entered the homestretch with a two-length lead and steadily increased her advantage en route to her third win in seven career starts for groom Steven Smith.

The result also closed an afternoon triple for three-time champion jockey Nelson, who had piloted third race winner Generational and KJ Express to victory in the seventh.

Nelson had two previous Fillies Guineas wins with ‘Al Fouzia’ in 2000 and ‘Nuclear Affair’ in 2016 and engaged Above and Beyond in speedy split-times of 23.3, 45.3 and 1:10.2. The big filly still looked strong at the end under Nelson, who had been aboard for her two previous wins.

“Dane Nelson knows her inside out,” Nunes said about the race strategy.

Coming off her fourth place finish behind 2000 Guineas contender Nipster in her July 5 “prep” event, Nunes revealed he stepped up her training programme for the Classic season opener.

“We made sure to bring her over as fit as we could make her and as happy and as healthy as she could be and she did the rest,” said Nunes, who scored four wins on Saturday’s 11-race card. His other winners were ‘Generational’ in the third race, ‘Supreme Soul’ in the fifth and ‘KJ Express’ in the seventh.

Trained by Mark Johnston and bred by her owner, the Duke of Roxburghe, out of his once-raced mare Flirtation and the sire Efisio, nobody could have predicted the heights she would go on to reach.

Especially when she began life as an early two-year-old at Nottingham in April, with perhaps the height of ambitions ending at Royal Ascot.

They would be achieved, via Thirsk and then the Hilary Needler at Beverley before she bolted up in the Queen Mary, winning by three lengths.

She only ran once more as a juvenile, when she was even more impressive in the Cherry Hinton, her first spin over six furlongs.

Her season ended prematurely there and she was not sighted again until the Classic, via a racecourse gallop at Ripon which has almost gone down in folklore.

What made Attraction stand out from the rest – apart from her inherent ability – was her unusual action, with her legs seemingly heading off in all directions, but it certainly did not slow her down.

The man who rode her in all but the first three of her runs was Kevin Darley, who said: “I only rode her once that year before the Guineas and that was when she had her racecourse gallop at Ripon.

“When you rode her, she actually felt balanced, it just felt right, but you could obviously see one leg flicking out to the right and the other to the left.

“Looking at her, you wouldn’t have thought she’d want quick ground, but the one time she ran on soft in France, she couldn’t handle it at all, she was happy just feeling herself on a sound surface.”

Sent off second favourite in the Guineas behind Sir Michael Stoute’s Fillies’ Mile winner Red Bloom, despite tackling a trip two furlongs further than she had attempted before, Darley was positive from the outset and never saw another rival.

“I think she caught a few by surprise in the Guineas because a lot of people thought she was all speed and that she would be vulnerable over a mile,” recalled the rider.

“Speed was her forte, there’s no doubt about that, but when she had to dig deep, she did – and that was credit to her, she never gave in really.

“When she won the Queen Mary, we weren’t thinking of her in terms of a Guineas horse, but after she won a Cherry Hinton by five lengths, we started to think maybe she could get a mile.

“Leading up to the Guineas, she’d had one or two niggly problems and when she went to Ripon, she wasn’t working with a superstar and to be fair, she didn’t work that brilliant, to be honest.

“But I think what had happened was, she was getting a bit complacent at home and that trip to Ripon set her alight. She went there with a hairy coat and didn’t look right at all but as soon as she did that gallop, the lights came on again.”

For the first half of the season against her own generation, she simply had no peers, adding an Irish Guineas and the Coronation Stakes, taking her unbeaten run to eight.

“After Newmarket, Mark sent her over for the Irish Guineas, when she was good again in beating Alexander Goldrun, who turned out very good, and then she won the Coronation,” Darley went on.

“That really suited her there (Ascot), there were concerns, as it was her first time round a bend, but it actually helped her, as she was able to fill herself up and give herself a breather – and she was able to go again. She was looking unbeatable at that point.

“She found it tougher against the older fillies in the second half of the season and finished second to Soviet Song twice either side of her run in France, but all credit to her that she ended the year with a win in the Sun Chariot.”

Kept in training at four, am ambitious trip to Hong Kong was not rewarded and she looked a fraction off her former self when beaten in the Hungerford at Newbury, so it was all credit to her again when her career ended with victory in the Matron Stakes in Ireland.

Darley said: “The year after, she ran disappointing in Hong Kong, it was probably the wrong thing to do sending her there, in hindsight.

“After that, she had her niggles but it was very nice she was able to go out with a win in Ireland, it showed what a true equine athlete she was, all she wanted to do was race and win and please you.

“She hasn’t been too bad as a broodmare either, Elarqam was a nice horse for Mark.

“She’s bang up there with the best I rode. I’ve always said ability-wise, the best I rode was High Chaparral, as he went on and became a dual Derby winner and won two Breeders’ Cup Turfs.

“She was the best I was associated with all the way through though – and without a doubt, she was the best filly I ever rode.

“I just can’t believe it is 20 years ago!”

The pair were involved in one of the best races of the Flat season to date when duelling in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

On that occasion Mawj came out on top, but Tahiyra has since won the Irish equivalent and the bookmakers make her favourite to turn the tables in the Coronation Stakes on June 23.

“She grew a little bit when she was in Dubai,” said Bin Suroor of his diminutive filly.

“What I do with two-year-olds, when I see they are small and skinny, is give them time between races and that helps them.

“She hasn’t really grown that much but at least she has a big heart.

“We ran her over seven (furlongs) in Dubai and then she won well over a mile. When she came back to England she went and won a Classic. She’s a very special filly and we’re looking forward to Ascot.”

Looking ahead to the rematch he went on: “Dermot Weld’s filly is very good, she was second in the English Guineas and went and won in Ireland, she’s very tough.

“Our filly should run well, we’re happy with her and looking forward to it.

“I think a mile is perfect for her. Maybe in the future we might look at something different, but at the moment a mile is fine. We might look at nine furlongs some day.

“There are lots of races for her over a mile, the Falmouth, the Sun Chariot, races like that. We’ll see, but I think a mile suits her well.

“I don’t think we’d ever be looking to come back in trip with her.”

The daughter of Aclaim provided the Saffron House handler with the biggest triumph of his training career to date when making all for Classic glory last May and the Highclere Thoroughbred-owned filly almost added to her big-race haul when agonisingly denied in the French Guineas on her next start.

Injury curtailed her progress after a run at Royal Ascot last year, but having been kept in training and nursed back to full fitness, she returned from 457 days off at Doncaster last month in the Sceptre Stakes.

Sent to the French capital in the hope of building on that encouraging comeback run, things did not go to plan for Cachet in a muddling Prix de la Foret and having finished down the field, she is now set to come under the hammer at Tattersalls in December.

“It didn’t go to plan as she’s a filly who likes to run on the front end, was drawn a bit wide and never really got into a position,” said Boughey.

“She will head to the mares sale at Tattersalls later this year and I have no doubt she will become a super mum. If she could produce something half as good as her then we will all be very proud.”

He went on: “She’s a filly who has been an absolute star for us – she’s my first Group One winner and first Classic winner.

“In this game she was a relatively inexpensive breeze-up purchase (60,000 guineas) who went on to win a Classic. She’s got 20 owners and they have all had an amazing time with her.

“We will keep trying to find another one for them, but it is very hard to do so. She was a real gem and they are very hard to find.”

Although there was disappointment for Cachet at ParisLongchamp, Boughey almost saw the Sally Nicholls-owned Perdika pull off a shock when second in the Prix de l’Abbaye.

The well-travelled three-year-old made a bold bid from the front in the hands of Mickael Barzalona and was only reeled in by an on-song Highfield Princess deep inside the final furlong.

She could now head back out to Dubai before attentions turn to her off-track career as a broodmare later in the winter.

“She’s gone from strength to strength and been a big traveller,” said Boughey.

“She went to Dubai and has been back and forth to France all year and it didn’t surprise me that she ran as well as she did. She was very well drawn and got a fantastic ride from Mickael.

“She’s a filly who has exceeded our expectations and she could end up back out in Dubai before she goes to the breeding sheds at the end of winter.

“She’s been a great servant for us this season and full credit to Sally Nicholls for breeding such a tough filly on a very inexpensive cross.”

The Caravaggio filly won the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot in June but showed she was far from just a precocious type when winning the Cheveley Park at the end of September.

Stepped up to a mile for the first time at the Breeders’ Cup, she went down by just half a length to Chad Brown’s Hard To Justify in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“She’s done well over the winter and we had her at Leopardstown for a day away on the Guineas Trials day and she went very well,” said O’Brien.

“We’re very happy with her and aiming for Newmarket.

“She barely won a maiden on heavy but all her best form is on quick ground, so I’d say the better the ground the better for her.

“She ran well over a mile at the Breeders’ Cup, but a Newmarket mile is different than around Santa Anita.

“We are happy to give it a go and if it doesn’t work we can always come back (in trip).”