10th July 2024
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell previews his two Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes runners, Mighty Eriu and Fiery Lucy, as well as a few Thursday runners of note back across the Irish Sea.
We send two nice fillies to Newmarket on Friday in the shape of Mighty Eriu and Fiery Lucy in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes (2.25pm).
Mighty Eriu ran a stormer to be second at 50/1 in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, which was a huge price considering the esteem we hold her in. If you look back, she won her race on her side of the track, and while I take nothing away from the winner, Leovanni, we would have loved to see the two of them race together on the same part of the track. She’s come out of the race well and we’re hoping she can reproduce a similar level of form again, stepping up in trip, which will be new to her.
Fiery Lucy is also a nice filly who arrives here off a win at Fairyhouse and was a non-runner due to the ground on Irish Derby weekend. She’s a little different to Mighty Eriu in that she’s bred to stay well, so stepping up to six furlongs won’t be an issue. She’s come out of her last race well, and we’re excited to send her over there with her chance.
The Ballydoyle and Godolphin fillies at the top of the market represent the Albany form, so it’ll be fascinating to see how it all works out, but I like my two’s chances.
Before Newmarket, we’ve got a few nice fillies running at Leopardstown on Thursday. Snellen was obviously a smart filly for me last year, winning at Royal Ascot, and while she’s taken her time to get going this year, it was positive that she got back to winning ways at Limerick last time out. She’s done well since that run, probably coming forward a bit in the process. It looks a competitive Nasrullah (7.25pm), so we’ll see how she goes.
Later on is Sixandahalf in the Members Race (8.30pm) who arrives here off a bit of a break. She’s done well for us so far, winning twice and finishing second once, and we think she’s in good form now. She’s a very versatile filly and we’re hopeful of another smart effort.
We actually kick off the day with Tofino in what looks a hot Fillies Maiden (5.10pm). This is very much her first day at school, so whatever she does, there’ll be bigger days down the line. It seems like some of the big Flat yards are targeting the race, so we’ll see how our girl gets on, with more hopefully to come down the line.
