Unbeaten Wootton Bassett Colt Captures Futurity Stakes

Saturday saw Henri Matisse (2f Wootton Bassett – Immortal Verse, by Pivotal) make it three from three in the Group 2 Coolmore Stud Wootton Bassett Irish EBF Futurity Stakes at the Curragh.

Aidan O’Brien’s charge made a winning debut over six furlongs at the track in May and followed up in the Group 2 Railway Stakes, with the runner-up and third subsequently strengthening the form. The son of Wootton Bassett was sent off a short-priced favourite as he stepped up to seven furlongs and raced in third for much of the way under Ryan Moore. Nudged along from two furlongs out, he improved to challenge inside the final furlong and began to run on strongly soon after. He was pushed out to win by a length, comfortably.

“He was green,” O’Brien later commented. “He's still a baby but he has that turn of foot. We'll probably come back here for the National Stakes.”

Henri Matisse’s latest performance saw him shorten in price for both the Dewhurst Stakes and 2,000 Guineas. The unbeaten juvenile is a half-brother to Ballydoyle’s Group 2-winning filly Statuette (Justify).