See The Fire stokes up another tilt at Nassau Stakes

See The Fire will bid to make it third time lucky in the Qatar Nassau Stakes as part of a strong squad Andrew Balding is assembling for the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

The Jeff Smith-owned five-year-old has made the podium in the last two runnings of the 10-furlong Group One, which is the feature of day three at the marquee meeting, finishing a neck second to Aidan O’Brien’s Opera Singer in 2024 before having to settle for third behind Whirl 12 months ago.

See The Fire won her opening two outings of the current campaign, but having come unstuck against the colts at Royal Ascot, her team are looking forward to returning to competition against her own sex.

Balding said: “She will go for the Nassau. She wasn’t for whatever reason at her best in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Ascot.

“She’s run three times now against Ombudsman and never got near him and is probably not up to that level against the boys, but she has run very well in the Nassau before.

“The track suits her well and the owner enjoys his runners there.”

Another Group One star who is a possible for the Sussex Downs is last year’s City of York Stakes hero Never So Brave, who has options over seven furlongs at Goodwood but also at a mile in what is anticipated to be a red-hot Sussex Stakes.

“There’s a possibility depending on the ground of running in the Lennox,” continued Balding. “He’s still in the Sussex and we’ll have a look at both those options at Goodwood and there’s also the Hungerford at Newbury. So he has three possible races he could go for in the next three weeks or so.”

Balding is also relishing the prospect of stepping recent Summer Stakes scorer Flora Of Bermuda up to seven furlongs as he attempts to book a return to her beloved York in Goodwood’s Oak Tree Stakes.

The Kingsclere handler said: “She’s also in the Lennox but Wathnan (owners) have another who could go for that so we might end up running her in the Oak Tree and then look at the City of York – she loves York so that has to be the priority really.

“We’re really keen to try her over seven furlongs and I think she’s proven she’s strong at the end of the end of her races. She’s having a good season.”