Usherette on course for tilt at Falmouth

Usherette leads home her rivals at Royal Ascot. Picture courtesy of Racingfotos.com

Usherette has taken her Royal Ascot exertions in her stride and is on course to run in the Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket on Friday fortnight, a contest that forms part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

The Andre Fabre-trained filly was a fluent winner of the  Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at the royal meeting last week, having previously landed the Charm Spirit At Tweenhills In 2017 Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket.

“Usherette is an intended runner in the Falmouth Stakes and has come out of her Ascot win in good shape,” Fabre said on Tuesday. “I am convinced that when she encounters fast ground she will be even better than she showed last week.

“She obviously has a lot of class and is still quite lightly raced. She has always been a very impressive work horse but now she has got to prove it on the racetrack, initially by winning a Group 1 against females.”

Usherette has won six of her seven races , the one blemish being whe she beat one home in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville last August – the only previous time she has run at the highest level.

“I was quite confident on her solitary previous try in Group 1 company, in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville last August, but she tied up that day and suffered her one and only defeat [finishing seventh behind Amazing Maria]. She is much more mature now.”

Usherette features among 43 fillies and mares – including four different Classic heroines and ten individual Group 1 winners – for its 101st running.

Run over a mile for a total prize fund of £200,000, it is the second day highlight of the three-day Moët & Chandon July Festival and is the fourth of seven legs in the Fillies And Mares category of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

It could witness a clash between the winners of the previous three legs as Minding, successful in both the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and the Investec Oaks, is one of five entries for Aidan O’Brien’s powerful Irish yard while Qemah, who landed last week’s Coronation Stakes, is also engaged.

Other top class Falmouth candidates include last year’s winner, Amazing Maria, plus three fillies that have been successful in overseas Classic company – Jet Setting (2016 Irish 1000 Guineas), Hawksmoor (2016 German 1000 Guineas) and Ervedya (2015 French 1000 Guineas).