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Gosden returns Pretty Polly to Newmarket!

Izzi Top (white cap) wins the Pretty Polly StakesIzzi Top (white cap) wins the Pretty Polly Stakes
© Photo Healy Racing

Izzi Top landed the featured Group 1 Barclays Bank Ireland Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh today, scoring an appropriate win for her trainer John Gosden, whose Clarehaven Stables was where Pretty Polly herself was trained over a hundred years ago.

Izzi Top, ridden by Gosden's stable jockey William Buick, put in an impressive display to win, heading even money favourite Sapphire which had attempted to make all, over a furlong out to record a comfortable length and quarter success over the aforementioned runner.

Afterwards Gosden said “William (Buick) said she didn't like the ground but not many like it that soft. A mile and a quarter is her trip and she tends to pull herself up when she hits the front – she got a bit idle there in the last furlong.

“We'll look at races like the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood and the Prix de l'Opera in France and we may think about the Breeders Cup too. The best work she has ever done has been in the last few weeks.

Gosden also added “it's great to win this race because Pretty Polly was trained where I train now (Clarehaven Stables, Newmarket) – she was a Champion race mare in 1904/5/6 and won over a range of distances.”

About Tom Weekes
A lifelong racing fan, Tom began writing point to point reports in 2002 and has reported for irishracing.com since 2003, when he joined Irish Racing Services - since taken over by the Press Association. Has ridden a point to point winner and won the 2018 Irish Field Naps Table.