James Fanshawe, trainer of the Nassau Stakes (1979m) favourite, Audarya, believes that the biggest threat to his five-year-old champion’s winning prospects at Goodwood on Thursday (29 July) is the generous weight allowance enjoyed by three-year-olds.

Fanshawe said: “Older fillies have to give 9lb to three-year-olds. It’s difficult to do, as the race’s results show.”

Five of the last six runnings of the G1 event have been won by three-year-olds, who in those years accounted for about 60 per cent of the runners, indicating that in recent years they have claimed more than their fair share of Nassau Stakes’ victories.

Yet Fanshawe also believes that Audarya is well qualified to face the challenge. “She is very tough,” he said. “She has always been outstanding looking, imposing and strong, and a very good mover. Approaching Goodwood, she seems really well.”

Last year, Audarya progressed from being a good horse to status as outstanding.

Fanshawe reflected: “We’d been looking forward to her four-year-old career but she ran badly in a Listed race before just winning a good handicap at Newcastle.”

Having been stepped up to 2000m, Audarya then won the G1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville on soft ground and followed up with a close third on heavy going in the G1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp.

Those performances suggested that Audarya may have needed soft ground but a memorable victory at the Breeders’ Cup in Keeneland, where she broke the track record over 1900m in the G1 Filly & Mare Turf on fast going, revealed her versatility.

“She goes on any ground,” Fanshawe said. “And on her return this year she ran very well when second to Love at Royal Ascot.”

Audarya’s ability to act on a range of contrasting conditions is comforting for connections as it has rained heavily at Goodwood and ground conditions are changeable.

She will be a tough opponent for Snow Lantern and Joan Of Arc, the leading three-year-old contenders. Snow Lantern has improved rapidly this year and also shown her ability to handle both slow and fast ground, finishing a creditable runner-up in a G1 race at Royal Ascot before winning a similar G1 race at Newmarket.

Those races were both over 1600m and although Snow Lantern’s pedigree suggests that she should stay 2000m, she has shown a tendency to race keenly.

Joan Of Arc, representing Aidan O’Brien’s powerful stable, is suited by soft ground and showed that she stayed this trip when winning a G1 race in France last month over 2100m.

Should either defeat Audarya, they have another talented five-year-old to overcome – Lady Bowthorpe. A troubled run arguably cost William Jarvis’s stable star victory in a recent G1 event over 1600m. Although she has never run beyond 1800m, Jarvis sees the step up in trip as a positive.

He said, “For me, the key to her chance is the distance. I’m really looking forward to stepping her up to 2000m at Goodwood because I think that will be her trip.”

It is a fascinating contest.