Graeme North looks ahead to today's quality action in France and has a couple of Deauville selections to consider.
Anyone bemoaning the collective merit of the contestants of this year’s Gimcrack Stakes won by Lifeplan at York on Friday – surely the poorest renewal of the race for many a year – might be inclined to point some blame at the proximity of the Prix Morny at Deauville this Sunday and they’d probably be right.
Not that the Morny – one of two Group 1 races at Deauville - has attracted a stellar field but unlike the Gimcrack, which failed to attract as much as a listed race winner let alone a Group winner, it has at least enticed the winners of the Coventry, the Richmond, the Rose Bowl and the Albany besides a rare runner from America in the shape of Wesley Ward’s Outfielder, so I might as well start my Sunday French preview with him.
Outfielder has won his only start so far, a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs over five furlongs in May where he was soon in front and went further clear in the short straight under minimal assistance to win by six and a quarter lengths.
Ward has won three of the last twelve renewals of the Morny (No Nay Never in 2013, Lady Aurelia in 2016 and Campanelle in 2020) but all of those winners had previously won at Ascot and it’s fair to say the quality of juveniles Ward has sent to the Royal meeting in recent years (he didn’t even have a runner in 2025) hasn’t been the same as in his transatlantic heyday.
Whether that means Outfielder missing the meeting is significant or not we’ll soon out, but as it is the best of this year’s Ascot form is represented by Gstaad who won the Coventry by three lengths from the still winless Do Or Do Not with the Richmond winner Coppull a neck back in third and another subsequent pattern winner, albeit an ordinary one, Tadej, another length and a half or so back in sixth.
A half-brother to Vandeek, who won the Morny in 2023, Gstaad looked one of the most developed in the paddock at Ascot so might not make quite the improvement expected of him, but he’s still the best of his generation on known form so will take some stopping and his yard has won the Morny twice in the past three years with Norfolk fourth Whistlejacket and Coventry fourth Blackbeard, form which Gstaad has already exceeded comfortably.
Coppull appeared to have every chance in the Coventry but might have found that first race after a near two-month absence bringing him on as he showed improved form in the Richmond, albeit that didn’t look a strong race and the two that have run since from the race (Puerto Rico and Underwriter) have done the form no favours.
Wise Approach found the drop back to five furlongs his undoing in the Norfolk having won over six furlongs at York the time before, never able to lay a glove on Charles Darwin but doing his best work at the finish, and then put four lengths between himself and Rock On Thunder (who’d been beaten six lengths when ninth in the Coventry) in the Rose Bowl at Newbury with seemingly plenty more in the tank if needed.
The other colt in the field, the home-trained Imperial Me Cen, finished three lengths behind Tadej in the Prix Pobert Papin so has his work cut out but the sole filly Venetian Sun looks sure to go well. Three of the four who followed her home in the Albany won next time out including Fitzella in the Princess Margaret while the horse that followed her home at Newmarket in the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes was the subsequent Lowther winner Royal Fixation. There’s little doubt that despite the small field this is the deepest two-year-old race run this season, certainly over six furlongs or 1200m, and though Gstaad deserves to head the betting he's not a betting proposition for me.
The other Group 1 race is the Prix Jean Romanet over 200m which is restricted to fillies aged three or higher.
With just eight going to post, the draw shouldn’t be the issue it can be in bigger fields at the trip here given the shortish run to the first bend and it’s quite a tight affair at first glance with all holding a chance of some sort. Cinderella’s Dream is top on Timeform ratings, by 3lb from Bedtime Story and 4lb from Survie, and though she’s strictly trying 2000m for the first time, she finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly Mare Turf over the very sharp eleven furlongs at Del Mar last year when an unlucky loser.
She looks a better filly this year, albeit marginally, winning the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket over nine furlongs and the Falmouth over a mile at Newmarket, beating January in the latter as well as Crimson Advocate who beat her in the Duke of Cambridge at Ascot in between.
That’s proper Group 1 form and a level Bedtime Story has yet to match since her runaway win in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot last season, but in her defence things haven’t panned out well for her this season, badly drawn in both the French 1000 Guineas and the French Oaks and then never a factor in a mess of a soft-ground Nassau Stakes where she was caught out badly by the flag start.
Bedtime Story’s French Oaks run, when finishing best of all and one place ahead of the reopposing Cankoura, suggests she still retains the potential to hit the heights she promised in the Chesham and the return to fast ground for me at least is very much in her favour.
Survie hasn’t won this season but has run well in both her starts, three lengths behind Whirl ad a length and three quarters behind Kalpana in the Pretty Polly at the Curragh last time, form which is as good as she showed last year when second in the French Oaks.
She wasn’t seen to best advantage when seventh in the Arc on her final start, given a lot to do, and the suspicion is that she might still have a bit more to give, albeit possibly at 2400m. This year’s French Oaks fourth Cankoura has since won the Prix de Psyche a weak renewal for which she started odds on, and despite those ‘Classic’ credentials looks to have the same chance as the older trio of START OF DAY, Grand Stars and Quisisana.
Start of Day is probably the most well-known to British followers, having come over for the Duke Of Cambridge where she finished fifth, and after running her best race this season last time when third behind Fallen Angel and January in the Prix Rothschild is now back at 2000m for the first time this season, a trip around which she won three times last season and at which she ran Ombudsman to half a length despite a poor run in the Prix du Prince d’Orange at Longchamp last autumn.
Quisisana is a mare who has for a long time looked better than she has been allowed to show, often ridden from too far back, but she showed what she was capable of when ridden closer up in a 2400m listed even at Chantilly last June, scoring easily by five lengths, and made a very promising reappearance at the same venue last month at similar level, starting odds on in a competitive event for the grade and winning by two lengths.
This is quite a step up for her, however, a comment that can’t be applied to Grand Stars who might well have won her first two starts this season with better luck (the second of them when third to Aventure and Survie) and then finished second behind the dictating Goliath before getting outsprinted in a messy Group 1 in Germany last time. Pontefract listed winner Royal Dress has the most to find on form and stamina to prove too, though she did win a Group 3 over nine furlongs at the Curragh last year. At the odds, Start of Day looks the value to me at a general 9/1.
The opening Group race on the card, the Prix Kergolay, has attracted just five runners including two who have won the race in preceding years, Goya Senora in 2022 and Double Major in 2024. Goya Senora is nine now and not nearly as good as he was then, while Double Major has still to repeat the form he showed last season albeit without any conclusive evidence just yet that’s he not the force of old.
He finished second in the Dubai Gold Cup back in April but his two French runs since have lacked a bit of zip, behind the reopposing Sevenna’s Knight and PRESAGE NOCTURNE in the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier and then in the Prix Maurice de Nieul last time. The trip might have been a bit sharp on that occasion, and he ought to confirm form with fourth-placed Colombus, but whether he can reverse placings with Sevenna’s Knight and Presage Nocturne remains to be seen.
The former is still looking for his first win this season after winning three long-distance Group races last year, coming closest this year when third over an unsuitably short 2400m in a Group 3 here earlier in the year. The one to beat as I see it, however, is Presage Nocturne, who would have beaten Sevenna’s Knight readily in the Vigier had he not been set a mountain to do after a win in the Prix Barbeville where his victims included subsequent Vigier winner Candelari. He’s a previous course winner on turf here having scored at this meeting last summer and 7/2 looks very fair.
The Prix du Calvados, a Group 2 event for two-year-olds over seven furlongs for fillies on the same day bizarrely as the Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Goodwood – no wonder so many of the top juvenile races are looking weak - completes the quartet of pattern events. Setting the standard without doubt is the aforementioned Princess Margaret winner Fitzella who is by Too Darn Hot and has enough stamina in her pedigree to suggest the extra furlong won’t be a problem.
William Knight’s True Test has form figures of 11 but those wins have come in minor races at Lingfield and Newmarket that haven’t really worked out well but even so has shown better form than the other British challenger, the Gosden’s Nandita, whose last two runs have seen her finish seventh in the Albany and the Star Stakes at Sandown.
The best of the home contingent is surely My Highness who came from a long way back over the round 1400m here last time to run down Ceramic who had previously finished a close-up fifth in the listed race at Vichy in which another of today’s runners Polly Shelby finished second. There’s a lot of guesswork involved here, however, and I’ll steer clear of this.
Selections
1pt Presage Nocturne in 12.58 Deauville at 9/2 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)
1pt win Start Of Day in 16.00 Deauville at 14/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.