Princess Noor surprises rivals to claim Princess Margaret Juddmonte Stakes – Horseracing news
Princess Noor surprised her opponents in the Princess Margaret Juddmonte Stakes (Group 3) at Ascot in England on Saturday, July 27, 2013.
The young filly was given a general starting price of 25 to 1 and no one would have expected her to deliver such a strong result. There were some quality performers up against her, which put her under immense pressure. However, she was up to the task and
stayed confident from the start until the end.
Once the race kicked off, Princess Noor tried to pressurise her rivals. She was pretty quick out of the blocks, but failed to gain the lead earlier. However, that was not much important, as her main target would have been to push hard towards the final few
furlongs. This was exactly what she managed to do and left all of the other runners in a state of shock.
The winning trainer Roger Varian was delighted with the result and said, “We have run her in nice races because we think she's a nice filly but the only place to judge a horse is on the racecourse and she hadn't quite come up to this level in the Albany
and Cherry Hinton, which means she didn't really warrant being a shorter price.”
He added, “She isn't in any way ungenuine but I think the blinkers helped her to focus. She travelled really good today, two out she was going so well I knew I'd win. The blinkers appear to have done the job as she was much sharper today and she quickened
well.”
Princess Noor started off her career on a positive note, winning her debut race quite comfortably. However, she was unable to continue the momentum afterwards and disappointed her camp.
Despite that, Varian decided to test her in the important competition at Ascot, which had attracted some quality fillies from all over the world. The gamble paid off really nicely in the end and it will be interesting to see where the two-year-old heads
now. There are some highly important races left in the season and a couple of more victories would boost the confidence of Princess Noor’s camp.
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