Group Success For Heredia
When winning yesterday’s Gr.3 Atalanta Stakes over 1m at Sandown, the Richard Hannon-trained Heredia emulated her dam Nakuti, who won the contest in 2015. The four-year-old daughter of Dark Angel was held up at the rear, but began to make good progress on the outside of the field over a furlong from home. She challenged and mastered Queen For You inside the final furlong and kept on well to the line to prevail by three quarters of a length. Queen For You tried hard in second and was a length and a quarter clear of the running on Potapova back on third. This was a second consecutive victory for the filly, who won last month’s Listed EBF Dick Hern Stakes over 1m at Haydock, defeating Purplepay by an authoritative three and three quarter-lengths. She has won six times altogether and this was the first success in Group company.
Owned and bred by St Albans Bloodstock Limited, she is a half-sister to the dual winner Vasilissa, while her dam is a half-sister to the Gr.2 Belmont Gold Cup winner Amade. This is also the family of the Gr.1 Hollywood Oaks heroine Pattern Step, the Gr.1 Arkansas Derby victor and sire Archarcharch, the Gr.3 victrix and Gr.1 1,000 Guineas runner-up Arch Swing (Arch) and the German Classic winner Maljoom.
