Unbeaten French Classic winner Diamond Necklace will face four rivals when she makes her British debut in Thursday’s Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.
Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old has won all five starts and will receive nine pounds from older pair Friendly Soul and See The Fire in the 2,000-meter feature.
Stablemate Moments Of Joy and supplemented French challenger Botagoz complete the field.
Diamond Necklace arrives seeking a fourth consecutive Group 1 victory after winning the Prix Marcel Boussac as a juvenile and completing a French Classic double in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane this season.
She defeated 14 rivals by three lengths in the French 1,000 Guineas before stepping up in distance to edge Pink Panthera by a head in the French Oaks over 2,100m.
Thursday’s race gives her a different sort of test: a smaller field, quicker ground than she encountered in two of her French wins and Goodwood’s sharp turns and undulations for the first time.
O’Brien told Goodwood Racecourse: “She’s a lovely, natural filly. We stepped her up to a mile and a quarter last time, and we felt we would stay there for the minute. She’s doing very well physically and obviously has a great pedigree as she’s by St Mark’s Basilica."
“I think she’ll be fine. She’s a well-balanced, medium-sized filly with a good stride. She’s been around Longchamp and Chantilly, both right-handed tracks, so that shouldn't be a problem.
“She looks very special. Everything she’s been asked to do, she’s done very easily and very comfortably. She is obviously in that ‘could be anything’ category."
The daughter of St Mark’s Basilica is also attempting to extend O’Brien’s recent hold on the Nassau.
The Ballydoyle trainer won the race with Opera Singer in 2024 and Whirl last year, and victory for Diamond Necklace would give him three consecutive editions for the first time.
O’Brien has won the Nassau six times in total, with his previous victories coming in three pairs: Peeping Fawn and Halfway To Heaven in 2007 and 2008, Minding and Winter in 2016 and 2017, and Opera Singer and Whirl over the past two seasons.
Friendly Soul shapes as one of Diamond Necklace’s main threats after finishing third in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot on her second start following a lengthy absence.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained mare had previously won six of her first seven races, including the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera over Thursday’s distance.
See The Fire finished second in the 2024 Nassau and third last year, although she must rebound from a below-par run behind Ombudsman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
