Zanzoun dazzles with smart Nell Gwyn victory

Zanzoun put herself in the Classic equation with a stylish display in the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the daughter of Dubawi finished behind some smart rivals on her first two outings before breaking her duck impressively at Southwell in November.

Owned by Juddmonte, she was sent off at 9-1 for this renowned Group Three and was ridden confidently in the early stages by Kieran Shoemark.

As the race developed, Zanzoun moved effortlessly to the head of affairs before galloping on powerfully to register a taking one-and-three-quarter-length success over Ollie Sangster’s Celestial Orbit, another to finish strongly from off the pace.

Andrew Balding’s Remaat claimed third, but Charlie Appleby’s 15-8 favourite Verse Of Love was among those to finish well held further down the field.

The winner earned a quote of 8-1 for the French 1,000 Guineas from Paddy Power and John Gosden said: “I think she’d be fine on good ground, she just wouldn’t want it rattling firm.

“She handled the ground today, she’s a nice filly who has not been over-raced and she’s trained well this spring.

“She could do that (French Guineas), that could well be the case. I’ll talk to the family and see what they want to do. There is a very good Aga Khan filly we saw the other day in the Prix de la Grotte (Zarigana), but it’s lovely to win here and we’ve got nice plans to make.

“If the filly that won the Group One Fillies’ Mile here turns up (at Newmarket, Desert Flower) and she’s in top order, then I’d be very happy to be in France a week later rather than here!”

Barry Mahon, European racing manager for Juddmonte, said: “She’s a filly we thought a lot of last year, so it’s not entirely a surprise and it’s a good result.

“She’s not in the (English) Guineas, but she is in the French Guineas, so we’ll speak to the trainer and the owner and see what they’d like to do.

“Red Letter is still a possible for the Guineas here. She’s got a few more bits of work to do, but she’s still on the list and we’ll firm it up in the next week I’d say.”

Sangster said of Celestial Orbit: “She quickened off a quickening pace, which is always nice, and Jamie (Spencer) said she’d have no problem getting a mile. The key to her is some ease in the ground, so that will dictate our next move quite strongly.

“She’s in the Guineas here, whether she warrants coming for that, we’ll see what the weather does and how she is in the next few weeks, but she’s going to take a good step forward from that.

“We were conscious of that coming into it and if someone had offered me second beforehand, I’d have taken it, as I felt I’d left plenty of meat on the bones to work with for the rest of the year.

“She’s in the French Guineas as well, so that’s an option. As I say, her next race will be dictated by the ground and how she’s doing as she’d been off the track for a while and I’d say she’s had a hard enough race there.”

Of his other potential 1000 Guineas contenders, he added: “Flight is still in the mix after a nice, smooth bit of work here before racing. Oisin (Murphy) felt she was in a good place.

“We didn’t need to see fireworks but we were happy with what we saw and we feel like she’s not a 50-1 shot, so it would be nice to line up here and see if we can get a piece of the pie.

“I think we’ve just got to put a line through the Fred Darling the other day with Simmering. I’d say there’s half a dozen other trainers doing that as it was kind of a weird result and I wouldn’t have expected her to finish where she finished, but that’s fine, she’s come out of it well and her work has always tied in with this filly (Celestial Orbit) if not better.”