Well thats a shame and the story has been on tab on line all week (think they only like to show French races where the punters have no idea of the form to help the blind tote payouts?)
Goldi 8/10 and Paco 5/2 plus some great racing.
Goldikova can post historic win at Deauville
GEOFF LESTER, London - Goldikova can claim a piece of racing history in Deauville next Sunday by becoming the first mare to clock up 11 Group 1 races in winning the Prix Jacques le Marois for the second year running
Freddie Head’s globe-trotting money-spinner emulated the mighty Miesque when scoring the ``perfect 10’’ with another impressive victory in the Prix Rothschild on the French seaside course a fortnight ago. She looks poised to move one step ahead of the legendary dual Breeders Cup winner.
Head said: ``Goldikova seems better than ever this year and she simply loves Deauville. She produced what was arguably the best performance of her career in this race 12 months ago. Though we have to take on Paco Boy, who ran us close in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, I fancy our chances of extending our superiority over the mare’s favourite track.
Everything has been geared to a third Breeders Cup Mile triumph and Churchill Downs will be her swansong, but she has a huge following at Deauville and we hope and expect her to win.’’
Paco Boy, who will stand at Highclere Stud in Britain at the end of the season, has been one of the bargains of the decade at 30,000gns, and trainer Richard Hannon said: ``We are looking forward to having another crack at Goldikova. She is a phenomenal mare, but we were a bit unlucky at Ascot and even if she beats us again we might have a final shoot-out in Kentucky, because Paco Boy could also sign off at the Breeders Cup.’’
Hannon looks to have the solution to the G2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano on Sunday with Dick Turpin, who was awesome when landing the Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly last time. Runner-up in both the English and French 2000 Guineas and also the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, Dick Turpin thoroughly deserved that first G1 success, and, though this will be his first attempt at 2000m, Richard Hughes is adamant that he will stay. Even with a 4k penalty he looks to something to bet on.
Newbury holds centre stage in Britain this weekend, with a pair of G2’s - the Geoffrey Freer (2.30) and Hungerford Stakes (3.5) - the main attraction.
The former can go to Sans Frontiere, who came up with a career best performance to win the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket’s July meeting, while Eddie Ahern, deputising for the suspended Tom Queally, can win the Hungerford for Henry Cecil on Lord Shanakill, who looked at the top of his game when landing the Lennox Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.
Roger Charlton’s Bated Breath, who is a Group horse in the making, must not be missed in the sprint handicap (3.20) at Newmarket on Saturday, but the best bet of the weekend could be Sir Mark Prescott’s Hooray in the Listed St Hugh’s Stakes (3.45) at Newbury on Friday. Hooray has run two cracking races against the classy Memory, in the Albany at Royal Ascot and again in the Cherry Hinton at Newmarket. Dropped in grade here this speedy filly rates the maximum investment.
By the time you read next week’s column, we will already have had the first day of the big York Ebor meeting. The G1 Juddmonte International is Tuesday’s highlight, and, though Twice Over won the Eclipse for Khalid Abdullah, he was beaten by the same owner’s Byword in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, and the latter, who is trained by Andre Fabre, is a confident selection.
Richard Hughes knows that you have to enjoy the big successes because, as with any sport, you can be down in the basement as quick as you reach the penthouse, and that philosophy was never more evident for the in-form Irishman than last week-end.
Hughes lifted the Shergar Cup for the second year running at Ascot, having captained the Irish team to victory over squads from Europe, Rest of the World and Britain, but 24 hours later his chin was on the floor following the shock defeat of Strong Suit in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at The Curragh.
Strong Suit not only lost his unbeaten record in Ireland but also forfeited his position as favourite for next year’s 2000 Guineas, being beaten into third place by Zoffany, who had been eight lengths behind the 4-9 shot when he produced that breathtaking final 200m dash to win the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
There appeared no obvious excuse for Strong Suit, who was in trouble before the 200m-pole and never picked up. He scoped clean when he got home, and Hughes, confessing that he is as baffled as is Hannon, said: ``He might not be the next Canford Cliffs, but I know that he is better than that and I hope that he proves it before the end of the season.’’
The Coventry is the only blip on Zoffany’s CV in six starts, and Aidan O’Brien, who was celebrating an 11th win in this prestigious race, thinks that he is only now starting to look the finished article. He rates him right up there with the likes of George Washington and Mastercraftsman, two of his previous Phoenix heroes, and the National Stakes is likely to be the colt’s next race. He is the new Guineas favourite with Corals at 6-1.
O’Brien enjoyed a clean sweep in the Royal Whip, in which his leading four-year-old Fame And Glory outclassed stablemates Dixie Music and Grand Admiral for a bloodless success. Fame And Glory, who had been promoted to favouritism for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after King George winner Harbinger fractured a cannon bone on the gallops at Newmarket on Saturday and had to be retired, will have his prep-race for Longchamp in next month’s Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
Dandy Nicholls, who is the sprint king in Britain, couldn’t have picked up few better bargains than Regal Parade, who outpointed a strong field in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville on Sunday.
Regal Parade initially cost Sheikh Mohammed 430,000gns as a yearling, but Dandy ‘stole’ him for 16,000gns at the Horses-in-Training Sale and now has his sights set firmly on the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Arc day, unlike Aussie trainer Paul Messara, who, ``bitterly disappointed’’ with his July Cup third Alverta, plans to return Down Under with his mare.
Finally, that phenomenal racemare Zenyatta marches on relentlessly in America. She stretched her unbeaten sequence to 18 in the Clement Hirsch Stakes at Santa Anita last weekend – 12 of which have carried G1 status – and connections are already planning her swansong, a repeat bid in the Breeders Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November. That will mean dirt instead of the all-weather, which she adores in California, but would you bet against Zenyatta ? She is 4-1 favourite with Corals to retain her crown.
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