Newmarket Heroine Capella A Possible For Yorkshire Oaks

Sir Michael Stoute’s mare Crystal Capella turned in a tremendous performance on the opening day of Newmarket’s July Festival to win the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes and could next be seen in action in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks on the Knavesmire at the Betfair York Ebor meeting in mid-August, writes Elliot Slater.

Sent off a 4/1 chance the six-year-old put up what surely will be determined to be a career best performance in slamming the high-class Redwood by eight lengths, with a further six lengths back to the third horse Buthelezi. The result was never in doubt once Ryan Moore sent Crystal Capella into the lead at the two furlong from home marker, and once shaken up and asked to go about her business the daughter of Cape Cross scooted away to leave Redwood toiling in her wake.

Landing her eighth race from just 14 career outings for her owner Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, the winner was vindicating Stoute’s judgement having confided to the Rothschild’s at the start of this term that he felt the mare was getting better with age and that 2011 could very prove to be her year. Anyone looking at the York Ebor betting should bear this in mind.

Crystal Capella, a short-head runner-up to French mare Ashalanda in the 2009 Group 2 Pride Stakes at Newmarket, was not seen again until running in the same race 12 months later where she surprised many judges by making a winning return to score by four-and-a-half lengths. Although she failed to perform to her best in Hong Kong on her next start in December, the signs were there at Haydock in May that she was still interested in the game when running fourth in a Listed event, an outing that proved the perfect pipe-opener for this week’s HQ romp.

York’s Ebor fixture could be the next stop for Crystal Capella who will most likely bid to land her first ever Group 1 race.