Via Sistina could head to Ireland for the Pretty Polly Stakes after connections opted to bypass Royal Ascot.
The strapping daughter of Fastnet Rock has been working supremely well and at Tuesday’s work morning on the watered Rowley Mile gallop, trainer George Boughey raised the possibility she could be supplemented for a race at next week’s Royal meeting.
An impressive six-length winner of the Group Two Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket on her return to action in May, the five-year-old, who was previously trained by Joseph Tuite, will be held back until she gets her preferred ground conditions.
Boughey said: “Via Sistina will need the heavens to open. She is flying and was a good winner at the track on Guineas Sunday.
“She is probably going to the Pretty Polly, but would have been supplemented (for Ascot) had we got sufficient rain.
“She could have been supplemented for anything. I would have loved the heavens to open. She is in extraordinary form, but I just don’t think she would get her ground. She was not going to run unless it was on the slow side of good. It looked an impossibility.”
Long-term plans include the Prix de l’Opera on Arc day, but conditions remain key throughout.
He added: “Via Sistina is very much ground dependent. She won’t run unless it is very slow ground.
“She is the star of the show, really. She is in the Pretty Polly, which has been the main target all year, really. She is going to have lots of entries. If the Nassau came up soft at Goodwood, there is the Sun Chariot on the Rowley Mile.
“She loves the Rowley Mile. I’d love to run her at the Rowley Mile again, because it is likely we won’t see her next year. I have been trying to persuade the owner to keep her in training as a six-year-old but she has got pretty valuable ovaries.
“We won’t run her unless the ground is right, but we look forward to seeing her again.”
