IT’S HER MOMENT

Moore’s filly can join elite club

HER proven stamina and toughness might enable Hermosa become the fourth filly to complete the English-irish 1,000 Guineas double in the Tattersalls-sponsored fillies classic at the Curragh tomorrow.

A pillar-to-post winner of the Qipco 1,000 Guineas for Wayne Lordan three weeks ago, the Galileo filly, with stable-jockey Ryan Moore now on board, should prove tough to beat in her bid to emulate Attraction (2004), Finsceal Beo (2007) and Winter (2017), the only fillies to complete the classic double.

Hermosa’s juvenile form, which included a maiden success at Galway, featured rock-solid seconds in the Fillies Mile (behind Iridessa) and the Prix Marcel Boussac (beaten by Royal Meeting) and victory over Foxtrot Liv (in tomorrow’s field) in the Group 3 Weld Park Stakes at this venue.

In Newmarket, Hermosa did the donkeywork and, when challenged, stayed on strongly to beat compatriot Lady Kaya by a length, with a number of fillies behind which will renew rivalry tomorrow – QABALA (third), FAIRYLAND ( fifth), JUST WONDERFUL (sixth) and IRIDESSA (eighth).

The margins between the fillies on that occasion were relatively insignificant. So the outcome this time might well hinge on how each of them has progressed in the intervening weeks.

That said, Hermosa sets the standard and should relish the test provided by the stiff mile up the Curragh.

The Roger Variantrained Qabala, winner of the Nell Gwyn before the Guineas and the mount of David Egan, was supplemented to this race on Tuesday and leads the opposition to the favourite.

But I believe another Ballydoyle filly, Just Wonderful, might prove the biggest threat to the favourite.

Winner of the Rockfel in Newmarket last autumn, before finishing fourth (close behind French Guineas third East) in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, this Dansili filly was the choice of Ryan Moore for the English Guineas.

But, realistically, from a virtually impossible position at the back of the field, she had little chance of getting to the principals. In the circumstances, she did well to finish sixth and, with improvement expected, she should be a lot closer this time as Aidan O’brien bids for an eighth Irish 1,000 Guineas success, in a race which gave him his first classic win, with Classic Park in 1997.

The British challenge, spear-headed by Qabala, also includes Kevin Ryan’s EAST, third to Castle Lady in the French equivalent, and the Michael Bell-trained PRETTY POLLYANNA, third behind Joseph O’brien’s Iridessa and Hermosa in the Fillies Mile last year, having earlier beaten the boys in the Prix Morny at Deauville.