Mammas Girl raises prospect of Kia Joorabchian landing Group One win

The purple colours of Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation have yet to be carried to victory in a Group One event, but the high-profile football agent expects to have two big chances to break his duck in the space of three days next month after the emphatic last-to-first success of Mammas Girl in the Nell Gwyn Stakes.

Richard Hannon’s filly was behind all 14 of her rivals with a quarter of a mile to run, but found such an impressive turn of foot when she met the rising ground a furlong out that she crossed the line nearly three lengths clear. She is now top-priced at around 7-1 (from 50-1) for the 1,000 Guineas on 7 May.

“It is amazing,” Joorabchian said. “She gave a cracking performance on her debut [in October] and we’ve always loved her. Going into it, I said to Richard [Hannon, her trainer], I can’t understand why she is 28-1 [in the early betting]. I don’t see her getting beat.”

Guineas weekend could pose some logistical problems for Joorabchian, as his filly Affirmative Lady, a daughter of the brilliant Arrogate, is a contender for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on 5 May, while Mammas Girl is now around 8-1 for the 1,000 Guineas on the Rowley Mile here two days later.

“Affirmative Lady is second-highest rated, so I’ve got to decide whether I will be here or there,” he said. “It is a good decision, you would rather be having these decisions.”

Canberra Legend, the winner of the nine-furlong Fielden Stakes earlier on the card, is also entered in the 2,000 Guineas, but his staying-on success suggested he is more likely to go up in trip than back and James Ferguson, his trainer, seems more inclined towards a run in the Dante Stakes at York in mid-May.

“Whether it [the Guineas] is unlikely or not, I can’t say