Catherine’s Gift

Catherine's Gift

Joined Harry Charlton (Nov 2024)

Owned by Mr Mohammed Jaber

3-year-old Filly

Nathaniel x Papelaine (Excelebration)

A once rated filly, she finished 4th on her only start for Andreas Schutz when beaten just over 10-lengths in an All-Weather maiden at Chantilly in November. That race was over an extended 9-furlongs and although a 10-length defeat may sound underwhelming, the winner was Mandanaba, who has since landed the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux at Paris Longchamp and who looks to be one of the leading 3-year-olds for the Aga Khan team this year. Against a rival of that quality, Catherine’s Gift had little chance, especially with a finishing speed 108.6% which favoured the Fillies with the speed to run over a mile. My in-running comments at the time were as follows; “Drawn wide in 10. Broke on terms, but settled towards the rear, 8-lengths behind the leader (winner, Mandanaba). Shaken up once into the home straight, making headway without matching the pace of the winner. Came through runners to finish 4th, gaining 2-lengths on the runner-up in the final furlong”. The race wasn’t run to suit and she was unlikely to have been able to overhaul the winner in any case, but I liked her attitude and the way that she galloped through the line under Eddy Hardouin. Given that she wore a hood for this debut, it was perhaps not surprising to see her taken back from a wide draw, but she seemed to be relatively straightforward and responded well when asked for her effort. At a top speed of 62.7 km/h, she lacked the pace of Mandanaba (64.4 km/h), but that is likely to prove to have been an impossible task and their careers are going to head in different directions in any case.

Following her Chantilly debut, she was switched to the care of Harry Charlton 3-days later and I was pleased to see her get a nice mention in a recent stable tour for AtTheRaces. The Charlton team have history with this family having trained Persian Royal, a half-brother to her Dam, who completed a 4-timer for the yard at Salisbury in September 2022 before being sold to Wathnan Racing. He reached a peak rating of 90 in the UK and is a half-brother to Alkandora (Nathaniel) who was a Listed winner over 10-furlongs for Andre Fabre and Godolphin at Paris Longchamp in 2020. Her pedigree and the way she finished her race at Chantilly would suggest that she will be suited by a stronger gallop and 10-furlongs, which should be relatively easy to find in the UK and she is worth noting when she makes her debut for the yard in the weeks ahead.