Winsili followed up the 2012 victory of her stable-mate The Fugue when springing a 20/1 surprise in the Nassau Stakes to win by a neck from Thistle Bird. Bred and owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah, the winner’s fellow Juddmonte representative Hot Snap, a half-sister to Midday, ran on strongly in the final furlong to take third.
Trainer John Gosden was quick to pay tribute to the owner/breeder’s good record in the race, saying, “Before The Fugue, Midday won this race three times for Prince Khalid and Henry Cecil. So for the same operation to have won four of the last five runnings is really special.”
A little fractious going into the stalls and racing in a hood, Winsili is clearly a filly who has tested Gosden’s considerable skills as a trainer. He explained: “She’s just very impatient. She likes to keep on the move. In the morning, she goes out with just one other horse and likes to get a clear run on to the canter. If she’s held up for any reason she can turn herself inside out.”
Like The Fugue, Winsili is a daughter of Dansili, who enjoyed another top-flight winner just last weekend when the British-bred Laughing won the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga. Other major winners by the Juddmonte homebred this season include Grand Prix de Paris hero Flintshire, Ribblesdale Stakes winner Riposte and Thomas Chippendale, who tragically lost his life shortly after winning the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. In Australia, the former Juddmonte representative Foreteller won the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes in March for Chris Waller.
The three-year-old Winsili has provided a dream start at stud for her dam Winter Sunrise, a daughter of Pivotal who won twice over ten furlongs for Sir Michael Stoute. Her first foal, she has raced just five times, winning her maiden on debut last year before landing the Listed Swettenham Stud Fillies’ Trial Stakes at Newbury in May. She was fourth to her paternal half-sister Riposte at Ascot in the Ribblesdale. Dansili has worked well with this family before: he is the sire of Winter Sunrise’s Group 2-winning half-brother Ice Blue.