Altesse

Altesse did well to finish second in the Oyster Stakes at Galway on Monday on just her second ever run.

Settled nicely along the inside by Kevin Manning through the early stages of the race, she came under pressure as early as four furlongs out, and she didn’t have a lot of room at the three-furlong pole before they started the home turn. She was buried on the rail early in the short home straight but, switched towards the outside, she showed a really likeable attitude to come home well and get up for second place behind Tarana, with other talented fillies Beyond Brilliance, Shell House, We’ll Go Walking and Ebeyina behind her.

This was a good fillies’ race, as it usually is. Perhaps the favourite Ebeyina did not run her race, but the winner Tarana has always been highly-regarded by John Oxx, and Beyond Brilliance finished fourth in this year’s Irish Oaks.

It was a bold move by Jim Bolger to pitch Altesse into listed grade on the back of just a maiden victory at Killarney, but that is a measure of the regard in which the trainer obviously holds her. By Hernando, she is a granddaughter of Champion Stakes winner Alborada, and she is a half-sister to the Group 3 winner Alla Speranza. On this evidence, she should progress for stepping up again in trip, and she should progress for this experience in a rough enough race around a tight track. She is only three, and she could be a high-class staying filly next season.

8th September 2014