Deirdre provided Japan with a historic success in the £600,000 G1 Qatar Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on Thursday.
Trained by Mitsuru Hashida and ridden by Oisin Murphy, the five-year-old daughter of Harbinger finished with a flourish in the 10-furlong contest to capture G1 honours by a length and a quarter from long-time leader Mehdaayih (3/1).
Deirdre finished sixth in the G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in June with connections blaming the soft ground for her performance.
They decided to remain in England, situated at Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Abington Place Stables in Newmarket with Deirdre coming to Goodwood Racecourse for an away day last month to gain experience of the course.
The victory was the second time Japan have won a G1 contest in Britain following Agnes World’s win in the 2000 G1 July Cup at Newmarket.
The mare is owned by Mr Toji Morita, who owns a family business in Osaka, Japan. His Racing Manager Seiko Hashida Yoshimura, who is also the daughter of the winning trainer Mitsuru Hashida, was thrilled by Deirdre’s success.
She said: “That was a special performance from Deirdre. It is fantastic to have a winner at the Qatar Goodwood Festival. This is very important not only for us, but also for the whole of Japan to come over to Britain and have a big-race winner.
“Today’s victory is important for Japan because it showed that it is not just possible to come here and compete, but that it is also possible to win. Hopefully, we can have a good influence on Japanese racing with this win.
“It was a very big challenge to come here. We have been in Britain for three months with Deirdre and we are so pleased that we kept believing in her. We had a lot of support and this has made this victory possible.
