Placed in both the big Group I sprints at Royal Ascot this year, Highfield Princess broke back to winning form at Glorious Goodwood overnight with an utterly dominant performance in the Group II King George Qatar Stakes (5f) as a hot favourite.
A triple Group I winning sprinter last year, the John Quinn trained daughter of Night of Thunder powered to the line doing her best work late for Jason Hart to pull away and win by three lengths.
“On that ground I wanted to hold on to Highfield Princess a little bit and make sure I had plenty left for the finish, so I went steady enough, even though she's proved herself on all types of ground,” said winning rider Jason Hart.
“She's probably the best horse I will ever ride and she's back to form. I thought today was a step back in the right direction and she will be even better at York.”
The Group I Nunthorpe Stakes (5f) at York on August 25 is next for Highfield Princess, who will be looking for back to back wins in the sprint.
"I was very keen for her to get her head in front for herself and today will have done her a lot of good. Group Two races are so hard to win as well, but she had run here two years ago in the Oak Tree Stakes and handled the track lovely. We thought maybe, just maybe, this might be easier than, for instance, the Maurice de Gheest which we decided to miss,” said John Quinn.
"The plan is to go back for the Nunthorpe in our back yard. She really loves The Curragh – the Nunthorpe and then back to Ireland and we will see after that.
"I had thought about going to Australia but I am a little bit cooler on that now. Travel, different seasons into different seasons, a lot of people have tried it so I thought we will stay in Europe and then possibly the Breeders' Cup. She is a very good filly to travel, the lads always say you wouldn't know she was in the horse box, which is very good.”
Highfield Princess has 13 wins and 13 placings from 35 starts and is a homebred for John Fairley being a half-sister to Group II winner Cardsharp from winning Danehill mare Pure Illusion, a daughter of Group III winner Saintly Speech.
She is the best of 35 stakes-winners sired by Dubawi’s Group I winning son Night of Thunder, who stands at a fee of €100,000 at Darley’s Kildangan Stud.
