‘She could be an Oaks filly’ — Sparan Nua impresses at Gowran Jim and Jackie Bolger appear to have a nice filly on their hands as Sparan Nua added to a Naas debut win earlier this month with another convincing victory in the @gowranpark1 On X Fillies Race. The daughter of Dawn Approach quickened up nicely on the outer to lead well over a furlong under Declan McDonogh and soon stretched clear in fine style. The 2/1 (from 100/30) chance kept on strongly to beat the front running Vauntingly by four and a half lengths with 11/8 favourite Lady Mairen a further two lengths back in third. Bolger was represented by his travelling head man Ger Flynn who said, “Declan said she is very, very classy. Very smart. “It's her second start. She was a little bit on her toes in the parade ring for the preliminaries. Declan said everything went wrong for her. It wasn't the way he wanted to ride her at all. “He said she just oozes class; the minute he pressed the button it was all over in two strides. He said she could be an Oaks filly. He said she just has oodles of class. He's riding enough of them to know. "Look, she's doing everything right at home. Kevin (Manning) rode her work there last week. She's come on from her run in Naas. She's grown up mentally and physically. “She's a beautiful filly going forward and we like her a lot now. The way she worked the last day and even here today. Declan was blown away with her there." Quotes by John O'Riordan
