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Blue Rose Cen bound for Britain

3 minute read

Christopher Head’s star filly looks set to make her first start outside of France with the trainer suggesting a tilt at the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood in August is firmly on the cards.

BLUE ROSE CEN winning the Prix Marcel Boussac at Hippodrome de ParisLongchamp in Paris, France.
BLUE ROSE CEN winning the Prix Marcel Boussac at Hippodrome de ParisLongchamp in Paris, France. Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

Blue Rose Cen created a deep impression when fairly bolting up in the Prix de Diane earlier in the month. A success that completed a rare Chantilly treble following comfortable victories in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and last year's Marcel Boussac.

Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast trainer Christopher Head said: "The main idea is to still keep up with the challenges. The owner has always been bold and daring in racing challenges and we have been talking about the next stage for Blue Rose Cen and he wants to go to the Nassau to do the same as Nashwa did with the Prix de Diane and Nassau double and we really have great faith in her with that programme.

The daughter of Churchill was stepping up in trip for the first time when comfortably landing the Prix de Diane and will now tackle older rivals in the Qatar Nassau Stakes.

"I don't think we have got to the limit of that filly yet. I still want to encounter the older fillies without getting into a new distance, so we'll keep with the distance we know she is best at right now and try to encounter a new panel of fillies to be able to know if she is capable of getting into the Vermeille and then we will pretty much know if she is an Arc or an Opera [horse].

"Even if she is not in the race, it is a possibility she can still be supplemented into the Arc. Leopoldo Fernández Pujals of Yeguada Centurion is a really a bold and daring individual, embracing challenges, so we're trying to do our best to get the horses to that kind of challenge, and that's why we're happy to go to the Nassau."

Head, who also trains Prix du Jockey Club runner-up Big Rock suggested a drop back to the mile will likely be on the cards for him.

He added: "He's pretty much a mile horse or an 1800-metre horse and we learned that in the Jockey Club. We will put him onto another path which is the Jacques Le Marois and probably the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes too."


Racing and Sports

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