Certify looks to make it four in a row at Newmarket

The Godolphin mount goes for top spot in the Fillies' Mile.

Certify is looking for a fourth successive win.

Certify's bid to hand Godolphin a third successive victory in the Fillies' Mile here today signals the start of a series of Group 1 races for fillies and mares this weekend that will shape the remainder of the season and beyond on at least two continents.

Mahmoud Al Zarooni's filly attempts to follow up the victories of Lyric Of Light and White Moonstone in the past two years.

The trainer is bullish about making it a hat-trick for the Dubai-based operation after the daughter of Elusive Quality put in a quality piece of work on Saturday.

Certify is unbeaten in three runs, and on her most recent start she won the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster last month.

There, she underlined he ability to come off a slow pace and that performance makes her a leading candidate for next season's English 1000 Guineas.

"She is learning with her racing and I hope that she will be better again this time," Al Zarooni said. "It looks like a tough race with some nice fillies in the field but I am hopeful of another good run

Tomorrow Newmarket hosts two Group 1 races for fillies, the Cheveley Park Stakes over six furlongs for juveniles and the Sun Chariot Stakes.

Gamilati, the UAE 1000 Guineas winner, is looking to restore her battered reputation for Al Zarooni in the latter race but if Godolphin's older fillies are struggling in England, in America they have had no such problems.

Kiaran McLaughlin saddles It's Tricky in the Beldame Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park for another rematch with Royal Delta late tomorrow night.

Also on the Belmont card, Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid's Nahrain lines up in the Flower Bowl Stakes for trainer Roger Varian.

Around 2,500 miles away on the West Coast, Santa Anita stages a trio of top-level races that are characterised mainly by the return from suspension of Doug O'Neill. The 44-year-old handler is best known for his association with I'll Have Another, this season's Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner.

O'Neill's 40-day suspension for a medication transgression two years ago ended yesterday. He was given the suspension for one of his horses testing for too much carbon dioxide at Del Mar.

Although he has his first runners at Santa Anita today, his return to Grade 1 racing will be announced when Wittgenstein takes on 11 others in the Chandelier Stakes on the same track tomorrow.

All of this distaff action only highlights that despite Frankel's prominence as the world's best thoroughbred, 2012 has been carried by fillies and mares.

Next weekend, the field for the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe is already dominated by fillies, with last year's champion Danedream, Shareta and Snow Fairy lining up.

If Certify wins this afternoon, Godolphin will once again harbour ambitions of taking the first English Classic of next season.

And with the announcement yesterday that Black Caviar, the world's best sprinter, is to remain in training for 2013, next year's stories are already forming.

twitter

Follow us