News William Haggas hoping for Ascot mile high with Tutu Nguru

William Haggas hoping for Ascot mile high with Tutu Nguru

racing

Tutu Nguru bids to prove her stamina for a mile when she tackles the £45,000 EBF Breeders' Series Fillies' Handicap at Ascot.

Trainer William Haggas is keen to target the Sandringham Handicap at Royal Ascot with his charge and she can book her ticket with victory in this nine-runner event.

The Newmarket handler said: "Tutu Nguru will enjoy this return to turf after racing on the all-weather and, although I've done very little with her since her last run, she's been doing very well in the meantime."

He added: "I am not convinced that she really stays a mile - she may end up being better over seven furlongs.

"But Saturday's race is perfect preparation for the Sandringham Handicap at the Royal meeting if she does."

Other notable runners include the David O'Meara-trained Pandora and James Tate's Light And Shade, third in the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' Stakes at Kempton last month.

The contest is the first in a new 20-race series which boasts total prize-money of £625,000 and culminates in a four-race finale at Newmarket on Sun Chariot Stakes day on October 1.

The aim is to give valuable opportunities to those fillies that fall below black type level, encouraging their owners and owner-breeders to keep them in training rather than sell them for export or retire them - a sentiment hailed by Haggas.

He added: "The initiative that has put this new EBF Fillies' Series together has been nothing short of terrific and it must be supported at all costs."

The races are all handicaps for three-year-olds and above, each worth at least £20,000, run over six, eight, 10 and 12 furlongs and staged at a dozen of British racecourses.