International Scouting Report: 2026 E.P. Taylor

Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby sends Diamond Rain to Woodbine for another crack at Saturday’s E.P. Taylor (G1). In last year’s edition, she got off to a disastrously slow start but rallied furiously and almost caught champion She Feels Pretty. 

Even though She Feels Pretty is now retired, Diamond Rain’s return mission isn’t necessarily easier. She’s not the only European shipper seeking a ripe target.

The Andrew Balding-trained See The Fire, a seven-time Group 1 placegetter in Europe, beat Diamond Rain back in May when repeating in the Middleton (G2) at York. Irish invader Jancis has struck career-best form in the right circumstances this year. Diamond Rain’s Godolphin colleague, classic-placed Venetian Lace, is a granddaughter of the 2014 E.P. Taylor winner, Just the Judge, with form versus males. 

Diamond Rain

As the near-miss runner-up here last year, Diamond Rain logically rates as the 7-5 morning-line favorite. Indeed, her two best performances have come on North American soil, including her third in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

Yet if judged solely on her European form, Diamond Rain begins to look like an underlay. In her reappearance in the Middleton, she went off as the 3-1 second choice to the odds-on defending champion, See the Fire. Diamond Rain tracked the pace and launched a bid, but ring-rustiness may have told, as See The Fire outkicked her and she checked in third.

Odds-on in her own title defense in the Hoppings Fillies’ S. (G3) on the Tapeta at Newcastle, Diamond Rain was nailed on the line by the 13-2 shot Botagoz. Diamond Rain was giving the sophomore Botagoz 12 pounds, but that winner hasn’t upheld the form. Botagoz was subsequently a distant fourth in the Nassau (G1), well behind third-placer See The Fire, and a troubled sixth in the Prix Vermeille (G1). 

Diamond Rain rebounded when dropping into listed stakes company in the July 24 Lyric Fillies’ S. back at York. She won as she was entitled, surging past the leaders and powering away as the 1-2 favorite.

The daughter of Shamardal and 2011 Epsom Oaks (G1) star Dancing Rain again arrives at Woodbine on an upward-form cycle. With last year’s experience under her belt, Diamond Rain is eligible to put herself in a better position. The question is whether she’ll find one too good. 

See The Fire

A non-threatening ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, See The Fire failed to gain any sort of decent position from a wide post at Del Mar. But Woodbine should suit her, as an expansive, galloping course. The only question is whether she can return to her peak form nearing the end of her career. 

Balding’s penchant for success here is a plus. Four of his five North American graded stakes wins have come at Woodbine, including the 2017 running of this race with Blond Me, the 2003 Canadian International (G1) with Phoenix Reach, and the 2024 Summer (G1) with New Century. 

It might also be auspicious that See The Fire’s two-year-old half-sister and stablemate, Forbidden Fire, just defeated males in Friday’s Flying Scotsman S. at Doncaster.

By Sea the Stars and out of Arabian Queen, who famously upset Golden Horn in the 2015 Juddmonte International (G1), See The Fire hinted at potential during her juvenile campaign. She progressed at three and hit the heights at four in 2025, signaled by a 12-length rout of the Middleton at York. 

See The Fire ran creditably versus elite males last season, finishing within five lengths of world-class Ombudsman in Prince of Wales’s (G1) at Royal Ascot and the Juddmonte International. Back versus distaff company in the Prix de l’Opera (G1) on Arc Day, she just missed scoring a Group 1 breakthrough.

Kept in training this year after her Breeders’ Cup disappointment, See The Fire won her first two starts. She traveled keenly in the April 26 Nottinghamshire Oaks, launched a bold move a long way out, and held as the 1-3 favorite. 

That prep run set her up for a title defense in the Middleton, where she stalked and pounced, leaving Diamond Rain back in third. If it lacked the fireworks of her 2025 romp, the much slower pace didn’t play to her strengths.

See The Fire hasn’t run up to that level in her two subsequent starts. Trying the Prince of Wales’s again, she was drubbed 15 lengths when sixth behind repeat hero Ombudsman. See The Fire had claims to fare better in the Nassau (G1) at Glorious Goodwood, having gone very close there in 2024 and placing third in 2025. Yet she still didn’t replicate her prior form when a well-beaten third. 

On the plus side, the top two in the Nassau were rivals of the highest order – Diamond Necklace, Aidan O’Brien’s dual French classic winner, and Group 1 veteran Friendly Soul, who’s since won the Sept. 6 Prix Vermeille (G1) in stakes-record time. 

See The Fire’s best efforts in the past have come in the vicinity of 1 1/4 miles. In principle, the E.P. Taylor should suit her well, and shipping to North America arguably gives her the best chance of collecting a Grade 1 title before she bows out. The five-year-old is slated to sell at the prestigious Sceptre Sessions at Tattersalls December – like Tiffany, who just beat males in the Kentucky Turf Cup (G2). 

Jancis

Although trainer Willie McCreery’s past North American runners didn’t make an impact, Jancis fits this spot better than Devonshire did in 2015, or Fiesolana did in the 2014 Filly & Mare Turf. 

By Tamayuz – the same sire as Balding’s victorious Blond Me – Jancis made an immediate splash when she finally made it to the races as a three-year-old. She won her first two starts at Leopardstown in 2024, including the Brownstown (G3), but then found life tougher until this season. 

As a closer with a preference for firmer ground, Jancis is often a hostage to the pace scenario as well as the prevailing conditions. But she demonstrated her ability to capitalize when things align for her in the May 3 Dahlia (G2) at Newmarket. Overlooked at 18-1, Jancis relished the fast pace to overhaul Cathedral, with the slow-starting Survie back in third. 

Jancis therefore has some nifty collateral form stateside. Survie, of course, enjoyed Saratoga, turning the Glens Falls (G2)/Christophe Clement Turf (G1) double. Cathedral was only fourth in the Diana (G1), but her previous fourth in the Filly & Mare Turf is a better indicator of her ability.

Shortening up from the 1 1/8 miles of the Dahlia to a mile over the summer, Jancis has had mixed fortunes. Her best result came two starts back in the Duke of Cambridge (G2) at Royal Ascot, where she was runner-up to Juddmonte’s outstanding Blue Bolt. Behind her in third was the unlucky Friendly Soul. 

Jancis figures to stay the E.P. Taylor trip, given her close second in last year’s Victor McCalmont Memorial over 1 3/16 miles at Gowran Park. Her only prior attempt at 1 1/4 miles – a fifth in the 2025 Pretty Polly (G1) at the Curragh – isn’t conclusive with the likes of Whirl, Kalpana, and Survie ahead of her. Jancis ought to have the stamina on pedigree, with her first two dams being by Derby (G1) winners Ruler of the World and Authorized. 

The bigger question is if new rider Hector Berrios can work out a psychologically safe trip for Jancis from post 3. Described as a “nervous” filly in the past, she still harbors idiosyncratic tendencies. 

“Willie (McCreery) did say that she can get claustrophobic,” jockey Sean Levey told racingpost.com after the Dahlia. “She’s an anti-social type, and she doesn’t like coming through horses.”

Venetian Lace

Trained by Charlie Johnston, whose three-year-old Ancient Egypt recently finished fourth versus elders in the Clement Turf, Venetian Lace has been racing in the colors of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed. But the daughter of 2018 Derby hero Masar now dons the Godolphin blue. Her two-year-old stablemate, Sword Salute, makes the same change of jersey in the Summer (G1). 

While Venetian Lace has not visited the winner’s circle since her career debut on the Chelmsford Polytrack, she has been thrown into some tough spots. Her first two stakes tests came versus the boys in Royal Ascot’s Chesham S. and the July (G2) at Newmarket, and she acquitted herself respectably when fourth in both. 

Venetian Lace has delivered her marquee performances, albeit in defeat, when employing her tactical speed over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket. Best of the rest to Aidan O’Brien’s star Precise as a 40-1 shot in last fall’s Fillies Mile (G1), she resurfaced at the same track and trip to place third at 33-1 to True Love in the 1000 Guineas (G1). 

After a pair of last-place clunkers in the Oaks (G1) (trying 1 1/2 miles on rain-softened going) and Falmouth (G1) (cutting back to a mile on a quick surface), Venetian Lace turned in a more characteristic third in the Gordon (G3) at Glorious Goodwood. 

Back up to 1 1/2 miles versus males in the Gordon, but on good-to-firm, the 25-1 longshot traveled supremely well tracking the pace and took charge. But she didn’t stay the trip as hot favorite Enceladus, and Geryon swept past her, relegating her to third. Venetian Lace still beat a useful colt in Bay of Brilliance. 

Enceladus is currently the favorite for the final British classic of the season, Saturday’s St Leger (G1) at Doncaster. Geryon has some fine form to his credit as well, although he regressed to fifth in his latest behind Woodbine Mile (G1) contender Archivist at York. 

Venetian Lace’s happy medium might well be 1 1/4 miles on firm ground, the E.P. Taylor scenario. Johnston wanted to give her such an opportunity earlier this summer in the Pretty Polly, but ended up scratching. 

With Jamie Spencer aboard, fresh off his lucrative graded stakes double at Kentucky Downs, Venetian Lace has a case to factor at 15-1.