Blast From The Past: 2014 Pinnacle Stakes

The Group 3 Pinnacle Stakes is perhaps a newer race than most covered in this feature, having only been established in 2003, but it has been won by some classy performers in recent years and was deservedly promoted from listed level in 2012. John Gosden has won two of the five renewals since that change was made and both his winners have gone on to taste success at the very highest level.

Journey was value for extra when beating Sweeping Up and 2015 winner Miss Marjurie here 12 months ago, and is the best horse on Timeform ratings to have ever won the Pinnacle Stakes, having shown herself to be a very smart performer when winning the Fillies' And Mares' Stakes at Ascot in October.  

The victory of Sultanina in this race two years earlier was a terrific effort in its own right, however, given she had only made her debut earlier that month. "Whenever John tried to up her work, she got a bit sore so she came back to the stud at three," explained Normandie Stud owner Philippa Cooper in Racehorses of 2014, and so it was that Sultanina did not make it to a racecourse until the May of her four-year-old season. She looked green when coming off the bridle from some way out that day, but found plenty to run down fellow newcomer Desert Snow close home, and left the impression she would come on plenty for the experience. 

Sultanina was duly stepped up in both class and trip for her next start in the Pinnacle Stakes and was sent off at 10/1 in an 11-strong field. The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Astonishing was the 11/4 market leader, having shown improved form when fourth on her seasonal reappearance in the John Porter Stakes at Newbury, with Cubanita (7/2), Silk Sari (7/1), Moment In Time (8/1), Khione (9/1) and Freedom's Light (9/1), a stablemate of Sultaninia, the other runners to go off at a single figure price in what looked a competitive renewal.

The established guard failed to fire on the day, leaving the door open for the more lightly-raced fillies to fight out the finish and, though stepping up, they did not need to improve as much as they otherwise might. Sultanina responded to every call throughout the final two furlongs under William Buick, clearly in her element over the longer trip, and showed a tenacious attitude to edge out Freedom’s Light by a short head. Sultanina’s relative immaturity was in evidence again at times, which only added to her potential.

The Pinnacle Stakes form was franked when the runner-up won a listed race at Pontefract on her next start, and the third, the progressive Silk Sari, went on to win her next two outings, the second of them in the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster, before finishing second in the Fillies’ And Mares’ Stakes at Ascot. Sultanina herself would go on to win the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood and, in the process, became the first Group 1 winner in Britain who had not raced either at two or three since Rite of Passage, who won the Gold Cup as a six-year-old in 2010 after making his debut as a four-year-old in a bumper.

Sultanina was retired to her owner's Normandie Stud after failing to make the frame in two subsequent starts at Longchamp, though she ran as well ever when fifth in the Prix Vermeille, and started her career as a broodmare with a visit to Oasis Dream in 2015. She was covered by Muhaarar and Dubawi, respectively, in 2016 and 2017. Sultanina won three of her six starts and over £180,000 in prize money, with a peak Timeform rating of 118.