Group 1 action in back this Sunday in France after a weekend without – albeit there were a couple of listed races at provincial La Teste last Sunday, one of which went to Brian Ellison’s juvenile Wor Faayth who landed the Criterium du Bequet under Christophe Soumillon - with the feature event, the female-only Prix Rothschild over the straight 1600m, having drawn thirteen runners.
British and Irish stables have won five of the last ten renewals and provide seven of the thirteen runners this time around on ground that will likely be on the easy side after a week of unsettled weather on the Normandy coast.
As befits a Group 1 that kicks off Deauville’s summer Festival, the Rothschild has a recent list of illustrious winners who between them had annexed most of the top level races available to them earlier in the season they were successful.
Since 2015, for example, Roly Poly and Amazing Maria had both won the Falmouth, Amazing Maria and Saffron Beach had both won the Duke of Cambridge, Saffron Beach and Laurens had both won the Sun Chariot, Qemah and Watch Me had both won the Coronation Stakes while Mother Earth had won the 1000 Guineas besides finishing second in the Falmouth.
That’s the sort of level we ought to be expecting the winner to have been competing at, and it’s perhaps no surprise that Timeform’s top older rated filly in the contest, Crimson Advocate, won the Duke Of Cambridge in June before finishing third in the Falmouth while Timeform’s top-rated three-year-old, January, finished second in the Falmouth, one place ahead of Crimson Advocate, having earlier finished third in the Coronation. That Falmouth, which was also run over a straight mile, looks a key piece of form.
January and Crimson Advocate raced in rear alongside each other for the first half mile or so after which January travelled smoothly into the lead on the bridle, albeit near the possibly favoured rail, while Crimson Advocate battled on in the centre with nothing to race with until eased close home, the pair emerging with similar sectional upgrades. Crimson Advocate had come into the race with the better form, having earlier beaten the Falmouth winner Cinderella’s Dream in the Duke of Cambridge, when finding the best turn of foot in a steadily-run race, while January had been third in the Coronation from a wide draw. Given her physique, it’s perhaps not surprising that January has made such significant steps this season, having started her season only as recently as late May, and she looks the one with marginally the best claims.
Both stables also have second entries; the Gosdens run Spiritual while Aidan O’Brien saddles Exactly. Spiritual looks the better of that pair on form to date, clearly a 7lb or so better filly this year than she was last season and coming here off a win in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom, where she slammed subsequent French listed winner and Oak Tree third Bright Thunder by nearly five lengths with the clock suggesting she was by no means flattered by getting loose on the lead from a wide draw, while Exactly managed only sixth in the Coronation having earlier finished fourth in the French 1000.
This isn’t a four-horse contest by any means, however. Riyabovka can’t be fancied, but a chance of sorts can be given to each of the other eight horses I’ve not yet mentioned.
Fallen Angel is a bona fide Group 1 performer, having won the Irish 1000 Guineas last year, but she has a bit to make up with Crimson Advocate from the Duke of Cambridge where she looked somewhat awkward in first-time cheekpieces. Two places behind her that day was Start of Day, for whom the very firm ground at Ascot wouldn’t have been anywhere near ideal, and while she’d also finished nearly two lengths behind Fallen Angel in last year’s Prix de l’Opera she has looked capable of a bigger performance when she finally puts it all together.
The French 1000 form is also represented by Mandanaba, third that day and unsurprisingly back at 1600m having run out of puff as well as the places very late on in the French Oaks, as well as Godspeed who was three lengths behind Exactly but came from the worst draw, finished strongly and next time out won the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly readily, albeit from a bunch of inferior fillies. Classic form – albeit in Germany – is also represented by Matilda who joined Francis Henri-Graffard after that 2000 Guineas win. Her win was something of a surprise judged by the betting, but she won by a wide-margin and showed a smart turn of foot to boot while flashing her tail wildly at the same time. On the face of it, that win is right up there with what some of her rivals have achieved, but it struck me the third wasn’t best placed before running on well and the sixth, Archie Watson’s 98-rated Eternal Elixir, a winner of a listed race in Italy subsequently, didn’t get anything like a clear run. All the same it takes some doing to beat the colts.
For all my earlier talk about historical precedents, however, two fillies who are open to significant progress are perhaps the most interesting of all. James Fanshawe’s Pina Sonata has won easily twice this season, and the trainer has previous form in French Group 1s taking a big step up in class, but I can give her a miss at 12/1.
However, I do think the oddsmakers have made a rick pricing up Francis Graffard’s third runner PINTA at a widespread 40/1. It seemed significant that she had been kept in training despite missing a whole year and she showed why when coming from well back to win a Class 3 at Compiegne in May. That’s a long way short of what will be needed here, but she finished third in her first foray into listed company last time behind the aforementioned Bright Thunder over this course and distance last time but couldn’t have found more trouble had she tried and ended up passing eleven horses in the final 200m as she flew home once in the clear looking a most unlucky loser. I’ve no doubt she will show herself a top-level filly at some point and hopefully that will be today.
The first Group race on the card is the Prix de Psyche, a Group 3 for three-year-old fillies over 2000m who this year haven’t won a Group 2 race. The contest looks Cankoura’s to lose in all honesty, with the French Oaks third 8lb clear on Timeform ratings from compatriot Safia and a highly progressive profile that for a few strides looked to add the Prix de Diane to her listed win at Longchamp the previous month. The slight step back in trip won’t prove any problem, and she’s got a pedigree that suggests she’ll go on improving for a while yet, so is deservedly odds on.
Safia wasn’t far behind Rothschild contestant Godspeed (and Zarigana) in the Prix de la Grotte at Longchamp in April without possessing anything of the finishing kick of that pair in a slowly-run contest and showed the benefit of a 400m step up in trip last time in the Prix Melisande, albeit beating a pair who would be better off at 2400m. A bigger danger than Safia will surely be the Gosdens' Life Is Beautiful. She did well to get herself into fourth place for much of the straight in the Ribblesdale given her early exertions and on her previous run she’d finished second in the Pretty Polly, just over a length ahead of her stable companion Sand Gazelle who later finished tenth in the French Oaks (where another of today’s runners Zia Agnese was eleventh). The drop back in trip ought not to be a hindrance and she can chase Cankoura home.
The remaining two pattern contests are both for two-year-olds who haven’t won a Group 2 race this year, the Sky Sports Prix Six Perfections over 1400m for fillies and the Prix de Cabourg over 1200m which is unrestricted.
The Six Perfections has attracted the bigger field as well as the only horse from the first five in the Albany yet to reappear, Balantina, but who judging by the next-time-out record of the quartet who have run will be winning too. Admittedly two of those four next-time-out wins were achieved at 1/12 and 10/11 with neither horse running anywhere near their Albany form but the other two were the winner Venetian Sun, who followed up in the Duchess of Cambridge at Newmarket (when subsequent Alice Keppel winner Spicy Marg and Molecomb runner-up Argentine Tango were behind) and Princess Margaret winner Fitzella. Out of a Montjeu mare, the extra 200m here ought to be in Balantina’s favour and she ought to be tough to beat with far better form to her name than either of the British challengers Secret Hideaway and Wetsand. Among the home contingent Clea Chope has already won a listed contest, albeit a minor one, while Green Spirit is undefeated in two starts but didn’t impress with her action at Saint-Cloud last time. The best of the home crowd and by some way too is surely Narissa who won her only start (also at Saint-Cloud) in very impressive fashion, leading 400m out and going a long way clear from the 200m marker, and she is in all the big fillies races in France further down the line.
I gave Tadej a decent chance in the Prix Robert Papin last time but the Coventry sixth could finish only third behind Irish raider Green Sense and Super Soldier who’d finished behind him in the Coventry. Archie Watson’s raider is back for another bite at the French cherry in the Cabourg with blinkers on instead of cheekpieces but that seemed a poor renewal of a once-proud race and Archie Watson’s charge looks vulnerable again with Super Soldier having done nothing for that form in the Richmond at Goodwood earlier this week.
Another horse who ran at Ascot was Afjan, who made a bid for the Norfolk Stakes after a very impressive debut success at Chantilly but never got competitive in the Norfolk Stakes behind Charles Darwin. He’s run once since, under Faleh Bughenaim, an Al Shaqqab retained jockey who hasn’t shone much in France, in the Prix Yacowlef but seemed once again to find the minimum trip too sharp and he’ll surely be a different animal over this longer trip bearing in mind how far he pulled clear at Chantilly on the unfavoured part of the track on his debut now he has Christophe Soumillon in the saddle for the first time. That said, the French two-year-old sprinters are not a great bunch this year so it’s disappointing he couldn’t get more competitive last time, and though he seems the most likely winner he’s not a bet. Only the unbeaten Shiri among the opposition looks potentially troublesome.
- 0.5pt each way Pinta 15.40 Deauville 40/1 general
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