John Ingles previews an edition of the 'French Oaks' which has plenty of British and Irish interest.
Having won both Irish Guineas this season, along with the 1000 Guineas and Derby in Britain along with their French equivalents, Aidan O’Brien bids for a seventh European classic this year with Diamond Necklace in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly.
Unbeaten in four starts and improving with each run, Diamond Necklace’s claims are hard to fault. She impressed with her turn of foot when ending her two-year-old season with victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac and had more to spare when beating the leading French fillies of her generation again when returning to Longchamp for the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches last month and quickening clear to win by three lengths in deteriorating conditions.
While clearly very effective at a mile, Diamond Necklace promises to be at least as good over the extra two and a half furlongs of the Prix de Diane. She’s from the first crop of St Mark’s Basilica whose wins included the Prix du Jockey Club over this same course and distance, while two of her half-sisters finished second in the Diane. The quirky Chicquita bumped into one of the best Diane winners this century, Treve, before going on to win the Irish Oaks, while more recently Philomene was denied by O’Brien’s only previous Diane winner Joan of Arc in 2021.
Open to further improvement, Diamond Necklace should be very hard to beat as she bids to join the French fillies Divine Proportions, Zarkava and Blue Rose Cen who all completed the treble of the Marcel Boussac, Pouliches and Diane this century. She’s accompanied by stablemate Moments of Joy who can go forward so will presumably be given a pacemaking role.
This is an unusual edition of the ‘French Oaks’ with the home team numbering just four in a field of eleven, with Diamond Necklace’s dominance in her two trips so far across the Channel suggesting the classic crop of French fillies isn’t up to much.
However, she faces some British-trained fillies who look among the leading contenders for place money. Evolutionist ended her two-year-old season for Karl Burke with third in the Fillies’ Mile and has made further progress this spring. She stayed on strongly to win the main trial for the Pouliches, the Prix de la Grotte, at Longchamp in April and then found only True Love too good under an attacking ride in the 1000 Guineas. That looks the best form on offer among Diamond Necklace’s rivals, and she shapes as though she’ll stay this longer trip.
Ed Walker’s Felicitas has made good progress in just three starts, and her Musidora Stakes form received a boost in last week’s Oaks. Having won her first two starts, Felicitas lost her unbeaten record at York but gave her all in going down by three quarters of a length to Legacy Link who then improved again behind Thundering On at Epsom.
Lilt also ran at the Dante meeting last time but in the listed Michael Seely Memorial Stakes over a mile where she took her record to two out of two for William Haggas. Her inexperience was still evident there, so she’ll have learnt plenty from it, and the way she finished off her race in getting the better of pace-setter So Regal suggests that the step up to middle distances will suit, being out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Dank.
Much the best form among the home-trained fillies belongs to Green Spirit in the famous Wertheimer colours for Christopher Head who trained Blue Rose Cen. However, she has twice been no match for Diamond Necklace, finishing a length second to her in the Marcel Boussac and further behind her when third in the Pouliches. Turning the tables will be a tall order, though Green Spirit certainly caught the eye last time, being dropped out from her wide draw and left with too much to do as a result but staying on once switched to the rail in the final furlong.
The remainder look to face stiffer tasks, including the other two British-trained fillies, though both Inis Mor and Esna were listed winners last time. David Menuisier’s Inis Mor was the narrow winner of a messy race at Goodwood, quickening best on her first try at a mile and a quarter, while the Brian Meehan-trained Esna didn’t win the strongest of listed races at Newbury and is another who has already found Diamond Necklace too good, finishing fourth behind her in the Marcel Boussac.
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