Hollie Doyle will maintain her partnership with Marco Botti’s unbeaten Folgaria when the pair tackle the Poule D’Essai Des Pouliches at ParisLongchamp on Sunday.
She is one of 17 fillies remaining in the French 1000 Guineas and her form received a significant boost at Newmarket when Elmalka, who finished third behind her in the Fred Darling at Newbury, came out and won the 1000 Guineas. Having gone unbeaten in Italy as a two-year-old, she turned up at Newbury as an unknown quantity, but she is not anymore.
“It was good to see Roger’s filly win the Guineas and the form received a nice little boost, the Fred Darling looks quite solid,” said Botti. “The plan is to go, she’s in good form and we’ve been happy with her. Hollie Doyle will keep the ride and now we just need a little bit of luck.
“There is an extra furlong, but I always think the mile at Longchamp around a bend is probably better suited to her than the straight mile at Newmarket, which was the main reason to send her to France instead.”
He went on: “She’s a big filly and right now I’d say she’d prefer a bit of cut in the ground. She did have form in Italy on fast ground and soft ground, but our impression is she’d prefer a bit of ease. She won over a mile in Italy but obviously that was a different level, it wouldn’t have been as strong as the French Guineas for sure.
“It’s exciting, as Roger said to me the pressure is now on us but it was good to see that form work out well. We knew she was a nice filly watching her work, but we didn’t know what level she was going to be – after Sunday now we know she’s very good.”
The only other potential UK-trained runner is George Boughey’s Chic Colombine, while Willie McCreery’s Vespertilio and Adrian Murray’s Manhattan Dream could represent Ireland along with Aidan O’Brien’s Content and Buttons.
In the French 2000 Guineas, the Poule D’Essai Des Poulains, John and Thady Gosden have left in Orne and Eben Shaddad, Roger Teal may run Dancing Gemini and O’Brien has Henry Longfellow and Diego Velazquez at his disposal.
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