Impressive win for Soft Whisper in UAE 1,000 Guineas Trial

Soft Whisper booked her place in the UAE 1,000 Guineas with a striking display in the seven-furlong trial for the Classic at Meydan, UAE, on Thursday, 7 January.

The daughter of Dubawi, switching to dirt after rounding off her juvenile campaign with two turf victories over a mile in the UK, was slowly into stride and was pushed along to settle in midfield of the 10 runners by Pat Cosgrave.

Soft Whisper quickened between horses to go third turning in and stayed on powerfully in the straight, hitting the front over a furlong and a half out before going away to score by two and a half lengths over Last Sunset.

Final Thought shaped promisingly in third to provide Saeed bin Suroor with a 1-2-3 in the race.

Saeed bin Suroor said: “Soft Whisper is a nice filly, who came out here after two good turf victories in the UK. She won well again tonight, despite breaking slowly, and I was very happy with her performance.

“The UAE 1,000 Guineas is the obvious next target and then we can hopefully look at the UAE Oaks afterwards. Stepping back up in distance will suit her.”

Pat Cosgrave added: “I rode Soft Whisper first time out at Salisbury and got her beat. I was pretty disappointed she didn’t win that day but she took a little time to get her act together and has improved race by race.

“I really thought she would win today – I didn’t after 50 yards because things didn’t quite go to plan, but good horses usually get you out of trouble. I was trying to find the right horse to take me into the race and luckily enough it worked out nicely in the end.

“She got a little bit of sand in her face, which will do her no harm, and fought her corner halfway round the bend. She had to work hard for her race tonight, which isn’t always ideal in a prep-race, but she had a nice blow afterwards and will improve plenty.

“It took me to the 800m marker to pull her up and, for a young filly only having her fifth start to do something like that is a good sign. She is by Dubawi and they get better with age and racing. She is a nice big scopey filly and hopefully can continue on to the next step.”