French connection pays off for Borders racehorse trainer Katie Scott with first group win in Paris

Her winning horse was Naana’s Shadow, ridden by Tony Piccone, in the group-three Prix du Petit Couvert Stakes over almost five furlongs at the French capital’s Longchamp Racecourse at 8-1.

The three-year-old grey filly finished almost two lengths clear of Clement Lecoeuvre on Shiri, trained by Francis-Henri Graffard at nearby Chantilly, to earn a top prize of £31,330, more than half again as much as the £21,000 her owners, South Lanarkshire’s Summerstorm Bloodstock syndicate, paid for her in April.

That was her fifth win in nine outings since arriving at Scott’s Lindean yard, starting with one landing a payout of £4,187 at Catterick in North Yorkshire at the end of April with Darragh Keenan in the saddle and also including another worth £38,655 at Epsom in Surrey in June, that time round with Oisin Murphy up top.

Also among that handful of first-placed finishes were ones worth £33,501 at York in June and £25,770 at Goodwood in Sussex in July, both also with Murphy riding.

Scott is now setting her sights on a return to France on Sunday, October 4, for Naana’s Shadow – now rated at 100-plus, up from 72 upon her move to the Borders from Suffolk – to vie for the £189,000 top prize on offer at this year’s group-one Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, also over five furlongs.

“It was a fantastic day,” said Scott. “The whole season has been a dream with her, to be honest.

“She’s taken us to all the big meetings, and to get our first pattern win was amazing.

“She’s obviously a very valuable filly now as she’s well bred, both as a broodmare and as a racehorse.

“When she won at Catterick in April, we started thinking of the 3YO Dash Handicap at Epsom, and when we pulled that off we thought ‘job done’, but obviously she has just kept going after that.

“Oisin Murphy rode her at Epsom and he said she did it very well and was still improving, and she’s done exactly that.”

Looking ahead to another trip across the English Channel next month, she added: “She’s got an entry in the Abbaye so that is plan A, and if she comes home all right from this, she’ll be back there in three weeks’ time.

“You just never know when a filly will stop improving.

“Once she’s run in the Abbaye, she’ll have a holiday, and at the moment, the plan is for her to stay in training, but depending on how the Abbaye goes, she might become too valuable to continue with.

“Her owners have been fantastic. Stephen McCluskey, who runs Summerstorm Bloodstock, picked her out at the sale and sent her to us, and obviously our team have done a very good job with her, but if you don’t have the horse to work with, you can’t do it.”

Naana’s Shadow’s latest win takes her career earnings to £157,486 and Scott’s for the current flat-racing season to £223,250.