Lady Tiana

Lady Tiana was the unlucky filly in the Group 3 Pinnacle Stakes at Haydock on Saturday. Admittedly she was at an advantage being held up out the back in a race in which they went fast from early, and which therefore favoured the hold-up fillies. However, she was level with the ultimate victor Miss Marjurie as they passed the four furlong pole but, whereas Paul Hanagan came wide down the outside and avoided trouble, Graham Lee charted the more efficient route, but also the more precarious route through traffic.

As it turned out, Miss Marjurie enjoyed an uninterrupted run down the outside. She had to have the speed and the tenaciousness to get home, but she did. She is a good filly. However, Lady Tiana’s run may have gone a little under the radar. Still travelling well as they passed the three-furlong pole, Lee was well within his rights to hope that a gap would appear after the cutaway, but it didn’t. He had to sit motionless behind the front wave, with his filly obviously wanting to go faster. By the time a gap eventually appeared, they had left the furlong pole well behind them, and Miss Marjurie and Wonderstruck were in full flight down the outside. Lady Tiana ran on nicely, but Lee wasn’t unduly hard on her once it was obvious that she couldn’t win, and she just kept on to get up for third place.

Lucy Wadham’s filly had plenty of racing last season as a three-year-old, but she continued to progress. She rounded off her season by probably putting up a career-best in winning a listed race over 10 and a half furlongs at Doncaster’s November meeting on heavy ground. Her debut this season was also encouraging, when she wasn’t beaten far in a Group 3 race over 10 furlongs on easy ground at Chantilly, and Saturday’s race was probably another step up on that. It was her first attempt at a mile and a half, and she seemed to stay it well, even allowing for the fact that she only finished third. They went a fast pace, and she was keeping on at the end. She is well worth another try at this trip, she could even be a better filly over 12 furlongs than over 10 on this evidence.

A daughter of Sir Percy out of a Danehill Dancer mare, she does handle good ground, but she is probably at her best on soft. She will be of interest wherever she goes next now, she is well worth her place in a fillies’ Group 3 race, and interest will be heightened if conditions remain on the easy side. She is a filly who will be worth keeping in mind for the autumn.

30th May 2015