Yorkshire Jockeys Horse Racing

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CONNECTIONS of So Mi Dar are looking forward to competing in the £100,000 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at York on day one of the Dante Festival, Wednesday 11 May.

The John Gosden-trained filly, who runs in the colours of her owner/ breeder Lord Lloyd-Webber, is unbeaten in two starts and overcame the colts in tidy fashion in the Epsom Derby Trial last time out. That effort earned her quotes of around 6/1 for the Investec Oaks and teed up a trip to the Knavesmire for this notable Group 3, run over the extended mile and a quarter.

So Mi Dar is certainly bred to do the job. She is by none other than Dubawi and her dam, Dar Re Mi, struck three times at Group 1 level, including in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks – and finished third in the equivalent race back in May 2008.

The Lloyd-Webber pale pink silks were carried to victory in the 2012 renewal of the Tattersalls Musidora by The Fugue who was also trained by Gosden and it is the Newmarket-handler who has been responsible for three of the last six winners.

Simon Marsh, general manager of Watership Down Stud, representing Lord Lloyd-Webber, said: “We were very happy with her performance at Epsom where she beat the colts in the Derby Trial.
“We ran her there due to a lack of fillies’ conditions races and handicaps and we wanted to give her another run before going into Stakes company.
“The Musidora Stakes was the obvious next step. Her mother was third in the race and went on to be a multiple Group 1 winner.
“She will need to step up again but she is a filly we have always liked and we hope that she can run very well on Wednesday.”

Last year’s winner Star Of Seville went on to take the French Oaks and this time around the race has attracted another high-class entry of seventeen fillies. Trainer Aidan O’Brien has five entries including Pretty Perfect, a Galileo filly who was an easy winner of the Listed Salsabil Stakes at Navan on her seasonal reappearance.

A total of fifteen sprinters have stood their ground in the day’s sprint feature, the £120,000 Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes. Recent Newmarket Group 3 winner Magical Memory heads the market with Group 1 winner Twilight Son due to make his seasonal bow having won over course and distance last June.

Other intriguing entries in the Group 2 are Jungle Cat, who finished a close second in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket last Saturday and Mattmu, trained in Yorkshire by Tim Easterby, and who finished a good third behind Mecca’s Angel in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes last August.

York’s season-opening Dante Festival runs from Wednesday, May 11 to Friday 13 May inclusive.