Sunday French racing tips including Prix Morny at Deauville

• 14:50 Deauville - Sumbe Prix Morny
• 15:25 Deaville - Sumbe Prix Jean et Louis Romanet

Two of the four Group races at Deauville today are Group 1s and though the Prix Jean Romanet is probably the more prestigious of the pair I’ll start with the Prix Morny for the simple reason that it comes earlier in the card.

A fair complaint about the top two-year-old contests this year is that they have lacked depth - the proliferation of extremely valuable Sales races doesn’t help in that regard and York’s Thursday winner and previous Group 1 winner Sun Goddess was the only defector from this contest at the final declaration stage - but that accusation can’t be levelled at the Prix Morny given it has attracted the winners of the Norfolk Stakes, the Coventry Stakes, the Richmond Stakes and the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes besides a couple of decent winners at a slightly lower level.

The Norfolk Stakes winner was Orthodox who has been confined to five furlongs so far. His three-and-a-half length win in what was the largest field for the Norfolk since becoming a Group 2 race was the biggest winning margin in the race this century, far above than the usual length or less the winner usually wins by. He was sent off second favourite for that race behind Carry The Flag who takes him on again here but whose limitations have been exposed since, but with big-priced horses filling the three places behind him, two of whom have done little for the form since, and ordinary timefigure given the winning distance Orthodox still has a bit to prove. Like Orthodox, the Coventry winner Great Barrier Reef comes into this unbeaten, although he has run three times and all at six furlongs. A winner on heavy on his debut, both wins since have come on fast ground and his Coventry win over twenty rivals was achieved in a good timefigure but it can’t be said either the form has worked out obviously well with four of the next six who followed him home and have run since cutting no more ice.

That said, Great Barrier Reef did much the best of the group he raced with for the first two-thirds of the race and a Timeform rating of 108p, the highest in the Morny, might well underestimate him given how the Coventry panned out (the next horse home of those drawn around him improved his form by 7lb next time). Fourth-placed Cut A Dash looked open to improvement after the Coventry but has gone backwards and finished much further behind Man’s Best Friend in the Richmond than did Great Barrier Reef in the Coventry.

The Richmond attracted its first double figure field since 2019 and on the face of it the winning performance in a 101 timefigure was up to scratch, with a length defeat of runner-up Adaay Of Scarlett and a two-and-a-half length defeat of third-placed Night In Vegas superior to the beatings Great Barrier Reef had dished out to the pair when they were second and fifth in the Coventry. Man’s Best Friend even overcame trouble in running at Goodwood before scoring with a bit in hand, so it’s highly likely he’ll improve again. The Duchess of Cambridge winner SENORITA BONITA is one of three fillies in the line-up.

The fairer sex won the race three times between 2016 and 2020 and took it again last year when Duchess of Cambridge winner Venetian Sun edged out Coventry winner Gstaad. Senorita Bonita couldn’t win the Queen Mary like Venetian Sun but did the next best thing by finishing second and the filly that beat her at Ascot, Victorious, would probably be a short-priced favourite for this is she was in the field. Five of the first ten home in the Queen Mary won next time out and Senorita Bonita’s win in the Duchess of Cambridge came at the expense of impressive Albany winner Libertango who made Senorita Bonita’s effort look even better when coming out and winning the Lowther at York on Thursday. Simon & Ed Crisford know what it takes to win the Morny having scored with Vandeek in 2023 and Senorita Boniat, who receives the fillies’ allowance, is arguably just about the form pick. .

Francis Graffard is never one to write off at Deauville but his representative Drazinda, who has already been successful at the meeting having won the listed Prix de la Vallee d’Auge over 1000m, looks to have plenty to find and was mid division in the Queen Mary before finishing second behind Queen Mary fifth Crownbreaker (seventh in the Lowther) in the listed Prix Yacowlef. Kosuma, the only other filly and home-trained entry, looks to have better claims. She is unbeaten and won the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg last time from Agamemnon who ran well in the Gimcrack on Friday. It seemed to me that she did quite well to overcome a rear position in the Cabourg over the Morny course and distance and promises to go well. That said, the general 11/4 (3/1 in a place) about Senorita Bonita looks fair enough.

Great Barrier Reef would be the one I’d put in a forecast if doing that bet

The Prix Jean et Louis Romanet hasn’t always been the strongest of Group 1s in recent years but the latest renewal is very high on quality and has attracted dual French Classic and Nassau Stakes winner Diamond Necklace who can also count a win in the Marcel Boussac as part of her six-race unbeaten profile. Easily the most meritorious of those six wins came in the Nassau where her stablemate Moments Of Joy (in again here for pacemaking duties presumably but drawn very wide) set a strong pace and allowed Diamond Necklace to stamp her authority in a very smart 119 timefigure. That’s a level only Aventure of her ten opponents has matched and there are legitimate questions as to whether the 2024 Arc runner-up is as good as she was, eleventh in the Arc last year but still to reproduce that form this time around and currently resides on a rating of 116, 7lb behind Diamond Necklace. Three fillies feature on a Timeform rating of 113, Cankoura, Red Letter and Pink Panthera.

Cankoura is a horse I’ve always had a lot of time for. She finished third in the French Oaks last year before winning the Prix de Psyche and after being touched off in a Grade 1 at Saratoga in June got off the mark for the year in a listed race at Chantilly last time with plenty in hand. Red Letter won twice last summer before coming up short when a short-priced favourite for the Group 2 Blandford Stakes. She hasn’t won yet this season but has improved all the same, albeit the horse who beat her at York in the Middleton, See The Fire, was well beaten by Diamond Necklace in the Nassau. Pink Panthera is having another crack at Diamond Necklace having come from a long way back when second in the French Oaks. She’s since been beaten a similar margin by Behrayna in the Prix de Malleret and is probably the one horse in the field who wouldn’t want any rain.

The only other pair that make any sort of appeal are Timeforshowcasing and Rebel Moon. The former won the German 1000 Guineas before finishing out the back in the Coronation Stakes but seemed to show a fair amount of improvement last time upped to this trip for the first time shipped back to Germany for a Group 1 contest won by Hotazhell with subsequent Prix Gontaut-Biron winner Wimbledon Hawkeye back in third. Rebel Moon, another three-year-old filly, has run just three times and finished fourth in the Irish Oaks when last seen, unable to sustain a big move into contention and arguably second best on the day, form which ties in with Pink Panthera through runner-up Inis Mor who was third in the French Oaks.

Rebel Moon represents the rampant Joseph O’Brien and could easily take a major step forward now dropped back in trip, though I was keen on one of his runners here last summer with a very similar profile and draw dropping back in trip and could only watch on in anguish as the horse was dropped out and finished well but with too much to do. No bet for me.

The day starts with the Prix du Calvados, a Group 2 for two-year-old fillies over the straight 1400m. The recent roll of honour makes you question why the race has kept its Group 2 status, and the latest renewal hardly promises to buck the trend either. On official ratings, at least among the four that have them, the highest rated is the five-time raced Yuquot who was second to York Sales race flop Tokaido in the Prix du Bois (beat another of today’s rivals Hinata Grey then) but has since finished no closer than third including in a Sales race at Mont-De-Marsan.

That’s nowhere near Group 2 level and the horse Timeform has top is DEE'S FUNNY GIRL who was sixth in the Albany and then second in the Princess Margaret on her first start for Donnacha O’Brien. She’s not a pleasant watch, inclined to take a hold and flash her tail, but her form is the best on offer, and all the indications are the longer trip here will suit very well. Frances Graffard has supplemented Le Bon Temps Roule. She won her maiden here last weekend in workmanlike fashion suggesting she’ll be suited by the extra distance too but Dee’s Funny Girl looks a 6-4 shot to me so 2-1 is worth taking.

The other Group race on the card is the Prix Kergorlay over just short of fifteen furlongs which has attracted six runners including two previous winners, Goya Senora who won it in 2022 and Double Major who has won it for the last two seasons when having Goya Senora behind him in second place both times. With neither of them at their best so far this season, the time looks ripe for a changing of the guard, however, and the two who appeal most are Santorini Star and Defiantly.

Santorini Star finished last in the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot which wasn’t perhaps surprising given a very wide trip in the highest quality Hardwicke for many years, but she’d shown a surprising amount of speed for one who’d won the French St Leger last year when winning the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket in May. Second spot behind Goodie Two Shoes in the Lillie Langtry last time was as well as she has ever run, and she may just have too much foot for Defiantly who is another example of Joseph O’Brien’s talents with long-distance horses but whose two best (and last) runs have come at two and a half miles.

Former handicapper Barbate has a smart turn of foot and deserves a shot at this after finishing just two lengths behind Double Major last time, while sole three-year-old Aeronef finished second in a listed race here two weeks ago when one of several covered by a blanket at the line, but Santorini Star looks the one to beat. That said, I can avoid at 11/10.

Selections

1pt win Dee's Funny Girl in 12.58 Deauville

1pt win Senorita Bonita in 14:50 Deauville

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook | Free bets

Published at 09:10 BST on 23/08/26

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