Insinuendo

Insinuendo did really well to come from as far back as she did to finish third in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. Dropped in by Oisin Orr early on from her outside draw, Willie McCreery’s filly was still 13th of the 14 runners when they started around the home turn. Taken towards the outside early in the home straight, she stayed on strongly, charting a path among horses, to get up and take third place from last year’s winner Eshaada. It never looked like she was going to get to the winner Emily Upjohn, but there was a lot to like about the manner in which she kept on all the way to the line. Her penultimate furlong was the second fastest penultimate furlong in the race, behind only Emily Upjohn’s, and her final furlong was the fastest in the field.
They didn’t go fast early on here, it was a race in which it was difficult to make ground from the rear. The other four fillies who, with Insinuendo, filled the first five places all raced in the first seven places from early. It was a career-best by the Gleneagles mare, on her first attempt over a mile and a half.

She was high-class over 10 furlongs this season, she was only just beaten by Luxembourg in the Royal Whip Stakes, and she failed by just a neck to catch Above The Curve in the Blandford Stakes, but she obviously saw out this 12-furlong trip well, and there could be more to come from her over this type of distance, if she races again this season or if she remains in training next year. She is five now and, a Group 3 winner and a Group 2 winner, and now Group 1 placed, she is obviously a fantastic broodmare prospect, but she could have more to offer on the racecourse too. Interestingly, Willie McCreery achieved that Group 1 win with Fiesolana in 2014 when she was kept in training as a five-year-old.
Ascot, 15^th October 2022