Oodnadatta

Oodnadatta did well to finish third in the Group 3 Snow Fairy Stakes at The Curragh on Friday evening. Slowly away from her wide draw, she was settled back in the field early on by Shane Foley. No better than ninth as they passed the four-furlong marker and raced down the hill to the home turn, she came under a ride as they straightened up and raced past the three-furlong pole. She picked up well too, she had to come widest of all, outside Champers Elysees, and it took her a little while to hit top stride, but when she did, she finished off her race well, getting up to take third place, just a length and a half behind the winner Acanella.

It was a race in which, and an evening on which, it was difficult to come from too far back, as it often is on the round course at The Curragh. The winner and the runner-up Champers Elysees were fifth and sixth turning for home, while the fourth, fifth and sixth fillies, Shale, Solene Lilyette and Emaniya, were third, second and fourth respectively at the top of the home straight. Oodnadatta did well to get as close as she got, coming from well back in the field.

Jessica Harrington’s filly hasn’t won since she won on her racecourse debut at Leopardstown in June last year, when she beat subsequent Marble Hill Stakes winner Minaun, but all but one of her runs since have been in Group races. Third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes last year as a juvenile, she ran a big race to finish fourth in the Group 3 Royal Whip Stakes against older colts and geldings on her last run before Friday, when she probably didn’t fully see out the 10-furlong trip. Friday’s run was probably a career-best though, and it is a performance on which she should be able to build now. A strongly-run mile or nine furlongs suits her well, and there could be a Group race win in her soon, perhaps the Denny Cordell Lavarack & Lanwades Stud Stakes at Gowran Park in mid-September, in which she holds an entry.
The Curragh, 27^th August 2021