Via Sistina

Via Sistina did really well to stay on as well as she did to finish second in the Group 3 Pride Stakes. Last into the stalls, she was slow from the gate, with the result that she was last early on, so she did well, in a race in which the winner and third raced in first and second places early on. Last of the 13 runners still as they raced to the two-furlong marker, she still travelled well at that point, and she picked up nicely when Jamie Spencer asked her to. She did hang to her right in among horses, with the result that she delivered her challenge over towards the far side, and she almost got there. She got past last year’s winner Ville De Grace, and she just failed by a neck to catch Creative Flair, who made all the running, with the first three finishing almost three lengths clear of the rest of the field.

It was a big run by the Fastnet Rock filly on just her second run this season, her first since August and her first for George Boughey since joining from Joe Tuite. And it was just her seventh run ever. It was a career-best performance, and there should be lots more to come. She handles this good ground well, but she won at Goodwood in May last year on soft ground, so she will be of interest if she runs again this season.
Newmarket, 7^th October 2022