This afternoon sees the closure of the incredible summer meeting at Deauville, with the Group Two Grand Prix de Deauville the highlight on the nine-race card worth over €400,000.
Ground conditions have been officially changed to ‘Heavy’ and as we witnessed with last weekend’s testing conditions, some shock results are inevitable.
Our man in France Jason Kiely guides through this fantastic card and pays particular attention to the ‘mud lovers’.
Ziyad aims to defend Grand Prix crown
Chantilly-based trainer Carlos Laffon Parias’ string have been out of sorts lately and the master handler has only saddled 14 winners in 2020 but victory for stable-star Ziyad in the Grand Prix de Deauville could provide the turning point of the season for the yard.
The five-year-old son of Rock Of Gibraltar put up a tenacious effort when taking this contest last year by a half a length over Soft Light, securing his first group win in the process.
Ziyad, who has been placed on multiple occasions at Group One level looks to have the measure of this field and a reproduction of his most recent third-placed effort at Saint-Cloud should be sufficient to take today's contest.
Laffon-Parias has proved time and time again to be a master in handling this type of animal and has taken the decision to keep Ziyad fresh, with this being the gelding’s first appearance on a racecourse since June.
Olivier Peslier takes the ride and with only seven runners in the field champion jockey Guyon will most likely aim to make the running, as per usual with his charge. Ziyad is proven over this distance and the trying ground conditions should not be a disadvantage for the gelding who loves it around Deauville (two from three at the Normandy track).
Select but strong English attack in feature
Over the recent weeks we have become accustomed to a barrage of overseas runners at Deauville, notably in some of the bigger events, with messieurs Gosden and Appleby sharing most of the spoils between them.
This afternoon, however, sees a much lighter ‘attack’ as only two of the seven runners will be saddled by UK based trainers.
Red Verdon was due to take part in last weekend’s Prix Kergolay but unfortunately an issue in the stalls saw the Ed Dunlop-trained gelding withdrawn just before the gates opened.
A Group winner last time out at ParisLongchamp, the globe trotting son of Lemon Drop Kid is in electric form of late and may prove one of the primary dangers to favourite Ziyad, with red-hot jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot getting the call up to partner the gelding.
Hughie Morrison is no stranger to big race success at Deauville and will be hoping that the talented four-year-old Telecaster will be able to see out today's 2,500m trip, his farthest distance encountered to date.
Arguably the most unexposed of the field, having only had eight career starts, Telecaster is proving useful and is already a two time group winner. The colt's most recent success came on his penultimate start, when he took a Group Three contest at ParisLongchamp in convincing fashion.
If seeing out this extended trip, Telecaster could prove the dark horse here and has to be treated with plenty of respect.
Six line up in wide-open Meautry
Although there were originally seven declared for the Group Three sprint the Prix de Meautry, the last minute scratching of Alocasia(would have been favourite) has left the 1,200m contest wide open.
Without an obvious stand out horse in the field, plenty of punters will be using ratings to work out which way to wager.
The Stuart Williams-trained Breathtaking Look comes out marginally on top with an official French rating of 48(106 in UK) and although she is without a win since 2019 the five-year-old could prove good enough here.
Pascal Bary took this contest last season with Spinning Memories and saddles Wanaway. The three-year-old has been in excellent form this season having most recently finished runner-up to Earthlight over this course and distance.
Three-year-olds have a poor recent record in this race but Wanaway looks to have a strong chance here if able to reproduce that most recent effort.
Girl Power for Vertus in Quincey
Of the six declared runners for the Group Three Prix de Quincey, Les Vertus is the only female and will benefit from a healthy weight advantage.
The Francis-Henri Graffard trained filly has been in outstanding form of late although she will have to produce a career best effort to land her first group success here.
As we have seen on numerous occasions over recent seasons Graffard has proved an exceptional handler of fillies and a victory for Les Vertus would be no surprise to the Lamorlaye based trainer.
The daughter of Shakesperean has only been out of the prize money in two of her eleven runs and has progressed by over a stone in 2020.
The mile distance is perfect for this tough filly and although she is yet to win at Deuville in two starts, she is sure to go close in this contest where she will once again be partnered by Pierre-Charles Boudout.
Stunning Spirit is the class act of the field and the logical favourite for this event. His trainer Frederic Rossi has been in exceptional form this season and turns out Stunning Spirit quickly here with the gelding most recently having finished third under the welter burden of top-weight in the feature handicap of the Deauville summer meeting two weeks ago.
Hernon hopes to sign off meeting in style
Dynamic young trainer Gavin Hernon saddled Loquen to success at Deauville only eight days ago and has taken the decision to supplement the gelding this afternoon. Having scored with authority under a confident Pierre-Charles Boudot here last week, there is plenty of reason to be confident in a reproduction of that effort over today’s slightly shorter trip of 1,300m.
Man of the moment Ioritz Mendizibal takes over on Loquen, who is drawn up against the rail in stall one(a huge advantage over this trip at deauville).
Hernon has been in fine form throughout the season and the 27-year-old saddled his first group winner with National Service this summer.
Loquen runs off a mark of 31 here and could be one that will continue to improve now he has got his head in front.