Postponed faces show of girl power in Coronation Cup

Atzeni and Postponed after landing the QIPCO-sponsored King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Picture courtesy of Racingfotos.com

Three Group One-winning fillies will attempt to get the better of Postponed, one of the highest-rated horses in the world, in what promises to be a superb renewal of the Investec-sponsored Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Cup at Epsom on Saturday.

The £400,000 contest, due off 80 minutes before the Investec Derby, is the first race in the middle-distance category of the QIPCO British Champions Series and has attracted a glittering cast.

No filly has won the race since David Elsworth’s In The Groove took the spoils in 1991, but the fairer sex have never been more strongly represented.

Nevertheless, Andrea Atzeni believes Postponed, trained by Roger Varian, will keep them at bay.

He said: “It’s a hot enough Coronation Cup and I will not be underestimating any of the fillies in it, but Postponed is the best horse in the race and they’ve got to look out for me, rather than me looking out for them!

“He’s a proper racehorse and is going into it 100 per cent. There’s been a lot of rain and ideally he does not want it too soft but he does cope with it. That’s the difference between a good horse and a very good horse – the very good ones go on any ground.”

Postponed, who will have the assistance of a pacemaker in stablemate Roseburg, won the QIPCO-sponsored King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot last year and was an emphatic winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March.

“He’s improving with age and is better than ever this year,” Atzeni said. “As soon as you get on him he’s ready for business. He’s very calm, travels, quickens and you can put him anywhere in a race. He tells me where he wants to be and is very versatile.”

Found will be tackling a mile and a half for the first time since lowering the colours of Golden Horn, the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland last October.

She seeks to provide Aidan O’Brien with an eighth success in the race. His previous victors have been Yeats (2005), Scorpion (2007), Soldier Of Fortune (2008), Fame And Glory (2010) and the mighty St Nicholas Abbey (2011-2013).

Arabian Queen also got the better of Golden Horn last summer, in the Juddmonte International at York in August, and is also stepping back up in distance after finishing runner-up to Usherette in the Charm Spirit At Tweenhills in 2017 Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket on her reappearance.

Simple Verse beat the boys in the Ladbrokes St Leger before following up against her own sex (with Arabian Queen five lengths behind in sixth) in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes at Ascot in October.

She also ran creditably on her return, under a penalty, when chasing home Exosphere in the Dunaden At Overbury Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket in April.

Oisin Murphy, who rode her at Headquarters, said: “She seems in very good order at home and has definitely come on from her run in the Jockey Club Stakes.

“She travelled really sweetly for me that day but just got a little weary close home when conceding weight to the winner. With the cobwebs blown away we think she has an excellent chance of landing a third Group One win.

“The track and the soft conditions shouldn’t be a problem. She’s won previously at tricky tracks at Goodwood and Salisbury, while her win on QIPCO British Champions Day last season showed that she can handle conditions on the soft side of good.

“We know that the Postponed team will look to go a strong gallop with the inclusion of a pacemaker but my mare doesn’t lack stamina so we’re happy for them to tow us into the business end of the race.”