Our French expect Graeme North previews today's Group 1 action from Deauville and has two recommended bets on the card.
North On Sunday Selections
1pt win Stolen Kiss in 15:40 at 7/2 General
1pt win Behike in 16.50 at 4/1 General
Sunday’s card at Deauville is headed by the Prix Maurice de Gheest (15:40) which is perhaps the most unusual Group 1 race in the European Calendar in that it is run over 1300m or approximately six and a half furlongs.
Probably because of its distance the race has produced more than one multiple winner this decade, but last year’s winner Sajir is a no show this time around giving the race something of a wide open if slightly substandard look. On the positive side, for the first time since 2018, however, Aidan O’Brien has a runner - his absence in the meanwhile perhaps unsurprising given his ten runners in the race after he won it in 2001 with King Charlemagne all finished out of the first three - and he looks to have a good fit in True Love who is one of only two Group 1 winners in the field having won the Cheveley Park Stakes as a two-year-old and the 1000 Guineas back in May.
That mix speed of speed and stamina - she also won the Queen Mary last season – is the ideal profile for one lining up in this race, though it’s arguable she hasn’t hit that 1000 peak in her three races since which included second place behind the all-the-way winner Thesecretadversary in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat here last month. A loss in form has been an even greater handicap to the only other Group 1 winner in the field, Wise Approach. He won the Middle Park last season having finished third in the Prix Morny here, but he’s failed to hit the first three this year including in the Commonwealth Cup at Ascot last time out when he finished tailed off.
The only Group 2 winner in the field is Samangan. His win at that level came in the Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte last season when he scored comfortably after travelling best but that was a weak race for the level and he’s failed to add to it since. That said, Samargan has improved his form since finishing second to another of today’s runners Afandy in the Prix Djebel on his reappearance (an odd race in which the winner dictated while plenty of those behind him pulled hard) and after finishing sixth behind Venetian Sun in the Commonwealth Cup two starts back then finished fourth behind Thesecretadversary in the aforementioned Prix Jean Prat, just a head and a neck behind True Love despite racing a bit further away from the rail than ideal.
Besides having something to find with Afandy and True Love, Samangan also has a bit to find with Division who was third in the Commonwealth Cup and might well have won with a bit more luck, taking a strong hold after a slow start and finishing with a flourish after having nowhere to go when still travelling strongly under two furlongs out. He’s since run in the July Cup, beaten two lengths into fifth behind Comanche Brave, again making late headway after taking a keen hold, and it could be this slightly longer trip will be just up his street.
Others with Group 1 form are Stolen Kiss and Rosy Affair. The former has won twice at listed level but really upped his game last time out in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, finishing fourth to Almeraq ahead of subsequent Group winners Lake Forest and Comanche Brave. His two previous wins this year over Sajir came by narrow margins, and he also had another of today’s runners Mise En Boite behind him in one of those as he did too at Chantilly on the all-weather at Chantilly in March. Rosy Affair is also an improved horse this year, if not as obviously as Stolen Kiss. She had her season ended early last season after winning the Prix de Meautry, a race she was pretty much gifted by a bunch who all disappointed next time out, but she beat a big field from a good draw in the listed Cecil Frail at Haydock in May and then ran a career best when fourth behind Mission Central and Rayevka in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot. She has run below that form since and is untried beyond six furlongs, however, while Stolen Kiss is already proven beyond seven 7/2 about the latter looks fair.
Of the others, How Are You, a stablemate of Samargan, is rapidly on the up and took a listed race here last month readily by two lengths. He has already shown a similar level of form to Take Charge Star who was second behind Thesecretadversary in the Jersey Stakes last time when the first two came over four lengths clear. Cheekpieces are added to the tongue strap he wore that day, but that Jersey effort was so far ahead of his previous form it remains to be seen if he can repeat it. My Calyx Cen won the Prix Sigy at Chantilly in April but was another out with the washing in the Commonwealth Cup.
The main supporting race is the Prix Daphnis at 15:05, a Group 3 over 1600m or near enough a mile and is due to be run on the round course, which will bring the draw into the equation given there are twelve runners.
Five of the field have already been successful at this level and the one among that quintet with the best and most consistent record at an even higher level is Distant Storm who won the Tattersalls Stakes last autumn before finishing third in the Dewhurst and has this season finished third in in the 2000 Guineas and second in the Irish 2000 Guineas. Five winners from eight runners between July 31st and August 6th suggest Charlie Appleby’s string is in good nick and a draw in stall 6 is fine.
Godolphin have a strong hand as they also field Komorebi who won the Prix Fontainebleau on his reappearance and then finished second to Rayif in the French 2000 Guineas. He’s back in trip having looked a non stayer in the French Derby, but his draw in stall 9 is slightly wider than ideal and fast ground might be an issue too given how he was moving at Chantilly. Wild Desert is the final Godolphin runner and though he hasn’t won at Group level he did finish second in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine last year. Those North American Grade 1s are by and large not comparable with Group1s or even Group 2s over here and he finished only tenth in a handicap at Goodwood earlier this month.
The other Group 3 winners on show are Khovikhov, Segall and Grand Son Of Dark. Khovikhov won a messy Prix de la Porte Maillot last time out with what was on paper a much-improved performance having finished down the field in the French 2000 together with Segall who then went on to be well beaten in the French Derby too. Grand Son Of Dark won the Italian 2000 Guineas by a wide margin before finishing second in the Italian Derby and now drops back in trip after finishing fourth in a minor event at Milan. Of at least as much interest as that trio are Lord Clover and Campacite. They finished second and third respectively behind the subsequent French Derby runner-up Hawk Mountain in the Prix de Guiche after which Lord Clover went on to finish fourth in the German 2000 Guineas (a race won by subsequent Belmont Derby winner Title Roll from Thoroughbred Stakes winner Shayem) and Campacite (who has the worst of the draw here) finished tenth in the French Derby.
The two supporting listed races, the Prix du Cercle and the Prix Moonlight Cloud are both over sprint distances.
A strong field has assembled for the former at 16:15 with around a quarter of the field having scored at Group level at some point in their careers. One of those, and one of the likeliest winners, is Regional who is the only horse in the line-up to have scored at Group 1 level when successful in the 2023 Betfair Sprint Cup. Oddly, though, Regional hasn’t won again since then despite running several times to a level that would easily be good enough in a higher grade than this, including two top three finishes in the King Charles III Stakes. That winless streak is becoming a bit off-putting, and he capitulated quickly after getting a flyer in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes last time.
One of my go-to angles in French sprints is to see where Ponntos, one of those Group winners and still one of the fastest horses in European sprints over three furlongs, is drawn and see what might get a good tow into the race from him. That worked twice for us last year with Monteille, once at huge odds, and though she isn’t drawn near him this time she is in the next stall to prominent-running Regional near the rail. She’s yet to finish in the first three this year but has had a very different campaign this time around, seen out twice in Meydan early in and not beaten far in one of those race before showing up well until the final furlong when out the back in the King Charles III at Ascot after a twelve-week break. She was behind Jawwal in last year’s heavily draw-influenced Prix de l’Abbaye (another of today’s runners Washington Heights from the worst of the draw was down the back) but like Monteille, Jawwal hasn’t reproduced his best form yet this season either. He ran his best race this year when second to another of today’s runners Estepona in a listed event at Chantilly last time in a race but that was a race in which the winner left her previous form well behind.
Behike, one of two British-trained challengers, is the pick on Timeform ratings in the Moonlight Cloud.
Twice a winner at Lingfield this spring, he finished down the back in the King Charles III Stakes when poorly drawn and the most inexperienced horse in the field but showed the benefit of that involvement when just touched off in a handicap over the same course and distance off a BHA mark of 100. The return to 1200m or six furlongs will suit him and he’ll be hard to beat, with 4/1 looking fair.
The other British challenger is Hallo Spaceboy who was also seen in handicap company last time, winning at York off a mark of 82. What was significant about that is that he was the shortest-priced horse in a handicap of fourteen runners or more at York this century, and he justified those odds in stylish fashion, the only one to come out of the pack and run down the pace setter who wasn’t stopping, the pair almost four lengths clear. He’s probably listed class.
Moojeed, No Tune and Kailani (who has the highest official rating of the fourteen) are the best of the home contingent.
Published at 08:55 GMT on 09/08/26
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