Etnya

Etnya was game in defeat in the Group 3 Denny Cordell Lavarack & Lanwades Stud Stakes at Gowran Park on Saturday. Smartly away and quickly into a nice position on the inside, just behind early leader Ennistymon, the Aga Khan’s filly travelled well for Oisin Orr across the top of the track and into the home straight. She got a nice gap on the inside on the run to the two-furlong marker as the leader moved to her left, and she quickened up well into it to hit the front. She was challenged by Epona Plays at the furlong marker, and she just gave best to Willie McCreery’s filly inside the final furlong, but she went down gamely to a talented and in-form filly who had finished third behind Thundering Nights and Albigna in the Group 3 Snow Fairy Stakes on her previous run. Etnya ran all the way to the line, and the first two pulled nicely clear of their rivals.

This was a nice step forward by Dermot Weld’s filly. She had been beaten on her previous run, in the Group 3 Desmond Stakes at Leopardstown, but that was against older colts and geldings and horses, in a race in which she was a little keen early on. Also, she was involved in a little bit of crowding on the run to the end of the back straight that day, and she was wide enough around the home turn. Lots went wrong for her in that race and, actually, she didn’t do too badly in finishing fifth behind last year’s Royal Lodge winner Royal Dornoch, having raced prominently in a race in which the winner and the third both came from the rear. Also, that was just her second run ever. On her first, at The Curragh in July, she was impressive in winning a one-mile fillies’ maiden, staying on well and winning easily in a race from which the second and fourth have both since won.

Etnya saw out this extended nine furlongs well and, a half-sister to Eziyra, winner of the Group 2 Blandford Stakes over 10 furlongs last year and a triple Group 3 winner over a mile and a half, and from the family of Gold Cup winners Enzeli and Estimate, there is every chance that she will get 10 furlongs and even further  She has raced just three times in her life, so she has plenty of scope for further progression.

Gowran Park, 19th September 2020