Madame Chiang on course for York return
22 April 2015
TRAINER David Simcock confirmed that Madame Chiang is on schedule to take her seasonal bow in the £110,000 Betfred Middleton Stakes at York on Thursday 14 May.
The four-year-old, who raced to glory in the Group 1 QIPCO Fillies and Mares Stakes on British Champions Day last October, was among 25 horses to stand their ground at the confirmation stage for the Group 2 over an extended mile and a quarter on the Knavesmire.
Madame Chiang, owned by Kirsten Rausing, has previous winning course and distance form, having taken the Group 3 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes on her first start of the 2014 campaign.
Simcock said: “She is on target for the Middleton. It has always been the plan to start her off at York.
“I have been pleased with her training. She’s done well over the winter and we are looking forward to getting her on the track
“A track like York really suits her, the long straight gives her time to get going. She won at the meeting last year – she is not a hard filly to get fit so going there without a run wouldn’t be a worry.
“She has been labelled as a soft-ground filly, but we don’t think of her as just that. Arguably her best run was in the Prix Vermeille last year when the ground wasn’t soft.
“All being well, this is a stepping stone to the Irish Pretty Polly Stakes and then we’ll take it from there.”