It is a very rare but enjoyable storyline when two-year-olds take the plunge against their elders, but it only occasionally happens in the sprinting showdown of the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes (22 August) over York’s speed-favouring 1000m.
Two fast young fillies have been supplemented at £40,000 each, with their supporters hoping that weight and sex allowances will lead to glory in one of Europe's most prestigious sprints.
International interest is added by Harry Bentley's booking for Spicy Marg , with the other youngster – the Irish-trained Lady Iman, who may start favourite – partnered with 54-year-old veteran Joe Fanning, who is one of very few top UK-based jockeys who can ride at 8 stone 2lbs (51.7kg).
Coincidentally, Spicy Marg and Lady Iman both booked their Nunthorpe tickets with 1000m victories at Goodwood on 30 July; Spicy Marg's victory in the Alice Keppel Stakes coming in a slightly faster time than Lady Iman's success in the G3 Molecomb Stakes.
Hong Kong-based Bentley has cut short a holiday to ride the Michael Bell-trained Spicy Marg and said: "It is a while since a two-year-old won the Nunthorpe but not many have tried. Her time was really fast at Goodwood and she gave me a 'push-button feel' when I rode her in work. All the signs are positive."
Fillies and mares have thrived in recent times, capturing eight of the last 14 runnings from limited representation. This year they are well represented, including the Group 1 winning Australian mare Asfoora who needs to bounce back from a modest showing in the G2 King George Stakes (1000m) at Goodwood earlier this month, where four of Friday's rivals – Jm Jungle, She's Quality, Night Raider and Frost At Dawn – finished in front of her.
Richard Hughes is no stranger to winning the Nunthorpe; the difference between then and now is that the three-time British champion jockey is eyeing it as a trainer.
Hughes has booked Ryan Moore, who gained a thrilling last-gasp victory for him in a York handicap on Wednesday (20 August), to do the steering on Sayidah Dariyan. Drawing on his two Nunthorpe riding victories, he has firm views on how this famous sprint is best won. "I have always thought that it is a race that you need to get your fractions the same every furlong in a sprint in which they can go too fast early and resulting in a pace collapse."
Renowned for his patience in the saddle, Hughes thinks that those tactics played a key role in Sayidah Dariyan's stylish 1200m victory here last month. "She was ridden quietly and then she just exploded. That is the way we see her best. I wouldn't swap her for anything," says the 52-year-old who last month landed his first training Group 1 when No Half Measures recorded a 66-1 shock in Newmarket's July Cup (1200m).
Meanwhile, trainer Ed Walker gave a bullish shout for both his contenders, Mgheera and Celandine. Of the former, Walker said: "She'll be suited by this flat fast track and we've always thought that this would be her race." And of Celandine, he commented: "Fast ground will play to her strengths and she returns to the track where she has run her two best races."
