Opera Singer and Emily Upjohn on course for Nassau clash

Opera Singer, Inspiral and the supplemented Emily Upjohn are among 12 fillies confirmed for the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on Thursday.

Aidan O’Brien’s Opera Singer looked a star in the making after rounding off her juvenile campaign with a jaw-dropping victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp, but she has had to make do with minor honours on each of her two starts as a three-year-old so far.

After a spring setback delayed her return, the daughter of Justify finished third on her comeback in the Irish 1,000 Guineas before filling the runner-up spot in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot behind Porta Fortuna, who has since added another Group One to her haul in the Falmouth at Newmarket.

Opera Singer is set to step up to a mile and a quarter on the Sussex Downs, where she will also meet her elders for the first time.

Chief among her rivals is John and Thady Gosden’s Emily Upjohn, who has been added to the field at a cost of £40,000 after connections opted against a rematch with her Pretty Polly Stakes conqueror Bluestocking in the King George at Ascot on Saturday.

The Gosdens have also left in the Cheveley Park Stud-owned Inspiral, who was last seen finishing sixth against the boys in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the royal meeting.

However, the six-time Group One winner could yet sidestep Goodwood in favour of the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on August 11, a race she has won in each of the past two seasons.

“It will be Goodwood or the Jacques le Marois and we can’t do both, so we’re just keeping all options open,” said Cheveley Park’s managing director Chris Richardson.

“We will see what happens and we’re just going to keep our options open and try and get it right this time and know where we are going.

“But she seems in good form and she looks great.”

Opera Singer is one of five three-year-olds in contention, with Roger Varian’s 1000 Guineas heroine Elmalka and Patrice Cottier’s French Oaks winner Sparkling Plenty also in the mix along with the Paddy Twomey-trained Irish Oaks third Purple Lily and Andrew Balding’s Eclipse fourth See The Fire.

Ralph Beckett’s pair of Doha and Lady Boba, Joseph O’Brien’s Lumiere Rock, Gary and Josh Moore’s Novus and Stay Alert from Hughie Morrison’s yard are the other hopefuls.

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