The John & Thady Gosden trained five-year-old Inspiral is potentially having her final start on a racetrack this Saturday and the sport is about to lose a most remarkable mare.
Though lauded in the past at times, have we as a sport truly appreciated what she has brought to the game? One thing is certain, we are going to miss her when she’s gone.
Six-Time Group 1 Winner Hit Some Amazing Heights
In Inspiral’s first season, she racked up four wins out of four and went into the winter of 2021 as clear favourite for the 1000 Guineas. That’s a race many are certain she would have won too but for a small setback.
After winning her maiden, a Listed race and a Group 2 on her way up the racing ladder, she managed six further successes. All six of those were in Group 1 company and that, especially with a filly, is a hard thing to achieve.
John Gosden, later with his son Thady, did an amazing job with this horse. She was never downgraded to lesser company in order to gain a “confidence boosting win”. They always kept faith in her and, in the main, kept at a consistently high level for the best part of four seasons.
A good winner of the Fillies’ Mile in 2021, she was expected to win the Guineas, but we had to wait until June and Royal Ascot for her first start as a three-year-old.
Despite the delay, she flew past her Coronation Stakes field under Frankie Dettori that day. In doing so, she put up a remarkable performance for an inexperienced and undercooked young filly.
Though beaten at 1/7 in the Falmouth Stakes, she reappeared for another dazzling display when winning her first Prix Jacques le Marois before finding things tough in the QEII. Luckily for all of us, she was kept in training for 2023.
Being beaten narrowly by Triple Time on her seasonal debut in the Queen Anne, she was seemingly primed for the Sussex Stakes but was completely stuck in the mud. Some quick thinking from Frankie Dettori saw her heavily eased and essentially, her Goodwood run was treated as a piece of work.
Having done that, the team sent her straight back to the Jacque le Marois in France in which she was very impressive before landing the Sun Chariot Stakes in even more breathtaking fashion. A trip to California was next, though nobody knew how that would go.
As it turns out, she was outstanding again at the Breeders’ Cup in landing her sixth Group 1 race.
Returning in the Lockinge this year, she was well beaten but subsequently the Gosdens thought she wasn’t ready. She was upped to 1¼ miles thereafter, another experiment that appeared not to work.
Heading for a third Jacques le Marois at Deauville, she was no longer the prize draw but having given away many lengths at the start, she turned in another great performance. Only third in the end, she was not beaten far behind star miler Charyn and now she is set for retirement very soon.
Rating Speaks for Itself
Inspiral ran to a mark of 121 on more than one occasion. Given that fillies get weight and are weaker, she was running regularly to the colts’ equivalent of 124 and very few horses manage to do that.
She has been a consistently high-class race mare and one we’ll miss badly with the breeding sheds now beckoning.
Breeding Duties on the Horizon
The immediate horse racing watcher’s loss is to be the breeding game’s, and the sport’s, long-term gain. Inspiral is from a typically excellent Cheveley Park family and now she is to retire to their stud to create the next generation of talent herself.
By Frankel out of Starscope, Inspiral is half sister to three horses who have achieved best Racing Post ratings of 80, 91, 93 and 123 (Inspiral) in that order. This is a family that is getting better, and it’ll be fascinating to see who she is paired with next breeding season.
Can She Go Out on a High?
Though a Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare outing isn’t totally out of the question if she is in rude health, it appears that the 2024 Sun Chariot at Newmarket is to be Inspiral’s last hurrah. Is there one more big win in her?
Firstly, she is a five-year-old who can be at her peak. After some experimentation this term, she has run to approximate ratings of 88 (Lockinge), 105 (Prince of Wales’s) and 113 (Jacque le Marois).
That is below form, but it does show improvement from race to race and a run of between 118 and 120 now looks imminently possible. Where does that leave her in the context of this race?
Stablemate Nashwa is almost certain to be a little underdone, while likely favourite Tamfana (David Menuisier) has remained consistent at 113 and is clearly beatable by a proper Group 1 type.
Three-year-old Elmalka (113, Roger Varian) is on the premises and looks overpriced at 10/1 having won the 1000 Guineas. Punters should also bear in mind that she will improve over time and loves this track and trip.
If the youngster doesn’t hit all new heights, it seems the door is open for Inspiral to give us a real ‘mic drop’ moment and leave the game as she came in, as a winner.