Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}), a three-time Group 1 winner for John and Thady Gosden and owner Imad Al Sagar, has likely danced her last dance on a racetrack.
A winner of over £1.6m in prize-money, Nashwa has been partnered in all 18 of her career starts by Hollie Doyle, with the pair storming to Prix de Diane glory at Chantilly in 2022.
However, the sporting decision to keep Nashwa in training as a five-year-old has not paid off and, after trailing home last of the 11 finishers in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, connections admitted that the brilliant racemare has likley run her final race.
The news was delivered on Monday by Al Sagar's racing manager, Teddy Grimthorpe, who said, “I think she's going to come back now. Really, it was very sporting of Imad to keep her in training this year, but it was just unfortunate the way things went in Dubai.”
He added, “After that we were always on the back foot with her this year and it just didn't work out, unfortunately. There are not many triple Group 1-winning Frankel fillies around. She's been a superstar for the stud–really important.”
Nashwa Sibling Supplemented for the Futurity Trophy
Grimthorpe also explained the reasoning behind the decision to supplement Nashwa's half-brother, Nebras (GB), for Saturday's G1 William Hill Futurity Trophy Stakes at a cost of £17,500. The son of Dubawi (Ire) ran out a decisive winner when making his debut at Newmarket earlier this month.
“We were all impressed at Newmarket and in John [Gosden]'s mind he always wanted to run him twice, if he could, this year,” said Grimthorpe.
“At the time we were pleased that he won so well, so then it was just a question of how he came out of the race and how he was up until this morning when the decision was made. He ticked all those boxes but it is going to be a big ask, no question, especially having had just the one race.
“But the key thing is he comes into it in really good form. We think he'll handle the soft going, which we'd expect it to be, and we thought it worthwhile having a try at it.”
Following Monday's confirmation stage, Nebras features among 19 contenders for the final Group 1 of the British Flat season at Doncaster, with the others including the Group 2 winners Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB) (Kameko) and Hotazhell (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), plus the G3 Autumn Stakes scorer Delacroix (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), one of six possible runners for Aidan O'Brien.
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