San Sicharia

San Sicharia won the Group 3 Chartwell Fillies’ Stakes at Lingfield last Saturday, a race that has proved to be a really good race for fillies in recent years, won by Sabana Perdida last year and by Echelon in 2006. San Sicharia was drawn in stall three and raced away from the favoured near side, so although she only got home by a nose from Baileys Cacao in the end, she can almost certainly be marked up a fair bit on the bare form of the race. Also, it was the filly’s first run for Joanna Morgan since coming from Jean-Claude Rouget’s yard in France, and her first race of any kind since she had finished fifth in a listed race at Chantilly last October, so it was a huge effort. Furthermore, although just over a length separated the first six home, the time of the race was good, 0.06secs/furlong faster than Racing Post standard and the fastest of the day. Add to that the fact that rider Pat Smullen said afterwards that the ground was probably faster than ideal for the daughter of Daggers Drawn, and there is every reason to believe that this filly should be worth following. Sabana Perdida followed up her win in this contest last year by landing the Windsor Forest Stakes at Royal Ascot, a Group 2 race run over a furlong further, and that looks like the ideal target for San Sicharia. (She won her maiden over a mile in 2007.) In the meantime, she could take in the Ballyogan Stakes at Leopardstown, another Group 3 contest for fillies, on 4th June.

9th May 2009