Novellara On Lillie Langtry Trail

Novellara, Henry Cecil´s unexposed half-sister to 1997 Vodafone Oaks winner Reams Of Verse, looks likely to step up to a mile and six furlongs as she bids for her first Group Three success in the £50,000 Lillie Langtry Fillies´ Stakes at Goodwood on Thursday, August 3.

Khalid Abdulla´s promising twice-raced Sadler´s Wells filly made a winning debut in a 10-furlong Salisbury Maiden in May, before taking a massive leap in class on her next start, the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, on June 22.

Cecil´s charge, who did not relish the quick underfoot conditions that day, was not disgraced in finishing under three and a half lengths eighth of 11 behind Mont Etoile in the high-class race, which saw subsequent Darley Irish Oaks runner-up Scottish Stage take second.

David Lanigan, assistant trainer to Cecil, reported today: 'The plan is to step Novellara up to a mile and six furlongs in the Lillie Langtry Stakes. She´s doing very well and came out of Ascot fine.

'We´re just hoping that there´s a tiny bit of give in the ground, that´s the only reason we haven´t run her since. They produce decent ground at Goodwood every year because they have a good watering policy so hopefully it won´t be a problem.

'She´s ready to race and is in great order. We´ve had her ready to go for a while and have just been keeping her ticking over, so hopefully she´ll give a good account of herself.'

Patrick Haslam hopes to run Ribblesdale Stakes third, Maroussie´s Wings in the Group Three contest, but no final decision has been made on the three-year-old´s participation.

The Middleham trainer revealed: 'Our filly should relish the extra distance. She´s bred to stay and if we go for the race we´d expect her to run well. She wouldn´t be running to make up the numbers, we´re looking for a win for her.

'Maroussie´s Wings would be among the leading contenders, which look like being Scottish Stage, Guadalajara and Intrigued, but if Scottish Stage were to run then I´d have to have a think about it because she beat us fair and square at Ascot and ran a good race in Ireland.

'Also, we´re keen to run Maroussie´s Wings on soft ground. If it rained heavily, which it can do at Goodwood, that would influence the decision hugely, because she´d definitely run if that happened.

'If Scottish Stage ran, we´d only want to take her on if the ground was to our advantage.'

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Scottish Stage has improved with each run this season and the Darley Irish Oaks runner-up could head to Goodwood on Thursday, but also holds an engagement in the Prix de Pomone at Deauville at the weekend.

Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor may saddle recent Newmarket winner Gudalajara in the classy contest. The twice Group Two placed five-year-old found the two and half miles of the Group One Ascot Gold Cup beyond her before defeating Ouninpohja by two and half lengths at Newmarket on July 28

The Lady Herries-trained Tartouche took the prize last year and the five-yer-old soft ground lover, successful in a mile and a half Newmarket handicap in May before finishing fourth in a two-mile Group Two contest at Baden Baden in June, is entered for a repeat win.

Sir Mark Prescott could saddle Italian Oaks third Souvenance, as well as Intrigued, who was fourth to Divine Proportions in the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp in October 2004 but missed last season, before returning with a third-placed effort in a heavy ground Haydock Listed contest on May 27.

Other possible runners include the Aidan O´Brien-trained pair of Sacrosanct and Kushnarenkovo, while Listed winners Art Eyes, Sirce and Power Girl could line up.