Juddmonte homebred Bluestocking backed up her season-opening
Group 2 win last month with the first Group 1 victory of her career Saturday. She
rallied late to win by a half-length in the US$321,615 Pretty Polly Stakes at
the Curragh, Ireland.
Trained by Ralph Beckett and ridden by Rossa Ryan, post-time
favorite Bluestocking (11-10) trailed by three lengths in the final furlong
before she reeled in Emily Upjohn (3-1), who faded in the final strides of the
1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
“Rossa had an inkling that Emily Upjohn might go forward at
some point,” Beckett told Sky Racing. “In a way it helped us. In a way it was
tough for her to run down, but it gave us something to aim at.”
Emily Upjohn, a 5-year-old mare who has lost four in a row
since she won the Coronation Cup (G1) last June, ran on for second. She was four
lengths better than third-place Content (12-1), a 3-year-old filly campaigned
by trainer Aidan O’Brien for Coolmore.
The winning time was 2:10.90 without a run-up on the turf
course that was rated yielding to soft.
Beckett said the Nassau (G1) at Goodwood, England, on Aug. 1
and the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) on Aug. 22 at York could be the next races for
Bluestocking, a 4-year-old Camelot filly.
“You’d think the Nassau is the right place to go, and she
clearly enjoys York,” Beckett said. “She’s run well twice there, so the
Yorkshire Oaks will probably be a good idea as well.”