Alborada (horse)

Alborada made her racecourse debut on 19 July in a six furlong maiden race at Nottingham Racecourse. She started 2/1 favourite but after meeting interference in the closing stages[8] she finished third of the seventeen runners behind Dazilyn Lady. Twelve days later at Goodwood Racecourse she contested a similar event and finished third to Midnight Line, a filly who went on to finish third in The Oaks and win the Long Island Handicap. On 17 September Alborada ran in a maiden race over seven and a half furlongs at Beverley Racecourse. She started the 2/5 favourite and led from the start to win by six lengths to record her first victory.[9] In October, the filly was moved up in class when she was sent to Ireland to contest the Group Three Park Stakes at the Curragh. On this occasion she was ridden by Seb Sanders and started 3/1 favourite against nine opponents. Alborada took the lead inside the final quarter mile and went clear in the closing stages to win by two lengths from Winona, with the future Oaks winner Shahtoush in fourth.[10]

Alborada did not race in the spring of 1998, missing races such as the 1000 Guineas and the Epsom Oaks as the Heath House stable was affected by an outbreak of equine influenza.[11] The filly also missed an intended engagement in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and did not reappear until 27 June when she was sent to the Curragh again for the Irish Pretty Polly Stakes (then a Group Two race). Racing over ten furlongs on soft ground, she started the 7/4 favourite and won "comfortably" by two and a half lengths.[12] On 1 August at Goodwood she raced in Britain for the first time in ten and a half months when she ran in the Group Two Nassau Stakes. Starting at odds of 4/1 she took the lead inside the final furlong and won by half a length from the 25/1 outsider Digitalize, with Midnight Line in third.[13]

On 12 September, Alborada ran in her first Group One race when she was matched against colts and older horses in the Esat Digifone Champion Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse. Her rivals included the dual King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Swain, the International Stakes winner One So Wonderful, the Oaks winner Shahtoush, the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Tarascon and the 1997 European Champion two-year-old Xaar. Duffield settled the filly in third place before moving into second in the straight. She could make no further progress and finished second of the eight runners behind Swain.[14] On her final appearance of the season, Alborada contested the Champion Stakes over ten furlongs at Newmarket on 17 October and started at odds of 6/1, with Daylami being made the odds-on favourite. After tracking the leaders for most of the way, Alborada took the lead approaching the final furlong and held the late challenge of Insatiable to win by a neck, with Daylami in third. The unplaced horses included One So Wonderful and the future Arlington Million winner Chester House.[15] The win was enthusiastically received by the Newmarket crowd, reflecting the popularity of her jockey and trainer. Commenting on the stresses involved in training a top-class racehorse, Prescott commented: "You spend a lifetime watching races like this and wishing you could have a runner that good; and when you do it kills you."[7]

Alborada raced only twice as a four-year-old in 1999 as her season was disrupted by injury. On 31 July she started the 15/8 favourite for the Nassau Stakes, (run for the first time as a Group One race) but finished fifth behind the three-year-old Zahrat Dubai. Prescott could offer no explanation for the filly's poor performance.[16]

On 16 October, Alborada attempted to become the second female racecourse (after Triptych) to win consecutive runnings of the Champion Stakes. The Japanese-bred filly Shiva, winner of the Tattersalls Gold Cup, started favourite ahead of Lear Spear who had defeated Fantastic Light in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot, while Alborada shared third place in the betting with the 1998 Epsom Derby winner High-Rise. The fifty-two-year-old Duffield tracked the leaders before sending Alborada into the lead approaching the final furlong and she won the race by one and a quarter lengths from Shiva, with Kabool in third.[17] After the race Prescott admitted that he had considered retiring the filly in September after her injury problems and poor performances in training. Duffield said "she's an absolute superstar and this is a bonus for me at my age." Kirsten Rausing called Alborada "a filly for the history books; a great filly who will always be remembered in Newmarket."[18]