Sweet success

Arc trials weekend was highly informative, while some interesting maiden runners are also starting to appear in Europe, writes Jocelyn de Moubray

CHRIS WRIGHT and his Stratford Place Stud have a particularly successful relationship with Arqana’s Deauville August Sale.

In 2018 he bought Wonderful Tonight, the subsequent multiple Group 1-winning filly, for only €40,000 and a year later he sold, through the Haras d’Ommeel, Sweet Lady to Paul Nataf acting for the Teboul family’s Gemini Stud for €100,000.

Sweet Lady has turned out to be a great buy and after winning the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, the daughter of Lope De Vega took her total earnings including premiums to €822,000 with six wins from 14 starts to date. Wright has the satisfaction of having bred the winner of one of France’s great races and, of course, France being France, has earned some €70,000 in breeders’ premiums to date.

Wright has the satisfaction of having bred the winner of one of France's great races and, of course, France being France has earned some €70,000 in breeders' premiums.

Sweet Lady was the last foal of her dam the Dansili mare High Heel Sneakers, who was herself a winner and stakes performer in Wright’s colours in England, Italy, France and the US. Wright has kept Sweet Lady’s winning Nathaniel half-sister Tarte Tropezienne, who has a Kendargent filly foal and is currently in-foal to Zarak.

He has been breeding from this family for some years having bred the second dam Sundae Girl, a daughter of Green Dancer out of a half-sister to the champion Chris Evert and to the dam of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Winning Colors, in Kentucky.

Sundae Girl won at two at the abandoned Folkestone racecourse as long ago as 1998.

Sweet Lady’s win was a triumph for her trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, but also for British breeding in Britain, France, the US and Ireland where his sire stands. Wright has long been a passionate advocate of international partnerships.

Sweet Lady has been a consistent high-class performer since winning two of her four starts at two.

Her connections were then impressed enough by her easy win at Compiegne to let her take her chance in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in which she finished sixth, but only 3l behind the winner.

At three, she was beaten only a length and a half when fourth in the Poule d’Essai (G1) and 2l when eighth in the Diane.

By the end of her three-year-old career her connections realised that Sweet Lady is best suited to races at 1m2f-1m4f on soft ground.

This year she was an excellent winner of the Group 2 Prix Corrida when ridden close to the pace and then finished fourth to Alpinista in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1) when held up in the rear.

In the Vermeille, Sweet Lady had a new jockey and Gregory Benoist decided, when she bounced from the stalls, to make the running. It was the opportunity Sweet Lady had been waiting for and she was so settled in front that Benoit was able to slow the pace down to a crawl.

He ran the first 1400m in only 1m35.28s, some five seconds slower or 25l slower than L’Astronomie’s time in the Prix Niel later in the afternoon. Sweet Lady then sprinted up the straight running the last 400m some 12 per cent faster than her race average time.

Nevertheless, the final time of 2m35.5s was the second-slowest Vermeille this century and no less than nine seconds or 45l slower than Zarkava’s race record time.

In the circumstances those horses such as Tuesday and Grand Glory, who were held up at the rear, had no chance of being involved in the finish.

The second-placed Lillac Road had been close behind the leader throughout and the best finisher was the Zarak filly La Parisienne, who had finished second in the Diane. She flew through the middle of the field when she got an opening, running her final 400m 14 per cent faster than the race average to confirm that she is a top-class filly.

THE PRIX FOY (G2) was run even more slowly than the Vermeille over the same trip, which did not suit either the favourite Bubble Gift or the southern-hemisphere challenger Verry Elleegant, but which set the race up for Iresine (Manduro) who quickened brilliantly. His final 400m was 16 per cent faster than his race average, he came from behind and won comfortably.

Iresine is trained by Jean Pierre Gauvin, he has won ten of his 14 starts and when conditions are in his favour surely has the ability to win a Group 1 race.

In contrast the Prix Niel (G2) was run at a strong early pace, which suited the Haras de la Perelle’s Simca Mille who has developed into a high-class, middle-distance horse. Beaten only a neck by Onesto in the Grand Prix de Paris (G1) in July, the son of Tamayuz has improved fast since going up in trip, and since being beaten in a handicap on the All-Weather at Chantilly in February off a mark of 85.

The Haras d’Etreham’s Lassault was an excellent second on his first start at the trip confirming his own revival after disappointing in the Classics, and that of his sire Almanzor, who recently has also had a string of promising two-year-old winners.

The Japanese Derby winner Do Deuce was only fourth, but quickened impressively at the top of the straight to get into contention only to fade in the final 200m. He will surely improve significantly for this his first run since winning the Japanese Classic at the end of May.

Another daughter of Lope De Vega, the five-year-old Dreamloper had been the star of the first Sunday at Longchamp in September when the Ed Walker-trained mare raced away from her rivals to win the Group 1 Prix du Moulin by over 5l in the excellent time of 1m36.14s, the third-fastest race time this century.

The winner of the Prix d’Ispahan over 1850m on similarly fast ground at the end of May, Dreamloper is one of four 2022 Group 1 winners out of a Teofilo mare.

Dreamloper also won a Group 2 in Newmarket over a mile at the beginning of the season and her only defeats have come over 1m2f.

Dreamloper is, with fellow mares Highfield Princess and Pearls Galore, proof that many horses still improve as five-year-olds.

September is when the better Frenchtrained two-year-olds finally begin to reveal their ability. Some of the maiden and conditions winners in early September may turn out to be better than Tigrais, Blue Rose Cen and Kubrick, winners of the three juvenile Group races, but it was a triumph for the young Chantilly trainer Christopher Head, the son of Freddy and grandson of Alec, who looks after the first two.

In only his third season, Head has won 12 races with 15 runners, including three Group races (at the time of writing). He has just 21 horses listed on the France Galop site.

Tigrais, a daughter of Outstrip, managed to hold the challenge of the Pedro The Great colt Breizh Sky to win the Prix La Rochette (G3) by a short head, and then the Churchill filly Blue Rose Cen continued her steady progression to take the Prix d’Aumale (G3), her third win in five starts and coming off an excellent second in a Listed race in Deauville.

Peter Brant’s homebred Dubawi colt Kubrick came from well off the pace to beat the Irish-trained Adelaide River and Pivotal Trigger to take the mile Prix de Chenes.

The Jean Claude Rouget-trained colt had broken his maiden on his second start in Deauville and is likely to be allowed to take his chance in the Group 1 Criterium International, which is not something his trainer does very often. The best-looking maiden winner was Juddmonte’s Frankel filly Ardent, who won at Saint-Cloud over a mile for André Fabre.

A daughter of the Grade 1 winner Emollient and a full-sister to this year’s Group winner Racelette, Ardent was fourth on her Deauville debut and looked to have improved significantly since.

The two conditions races at Chantilly were won by the Deauville debutant winners Kelina, another Frankel filly this time belonging to the Wertheimers and trained by Carlos Laffon Parias, and Rajapour. He is a son of Almanzor owned by HH The Aga Khan and trained by Rouget.

Rajapour put up a significantly faster time than the filly and beat an experienced colt comfortably by 3l. He looks a contender for Group 1 races this year.

Top quality action in the Group races at Baden-Baden September meeting

THE two main Group races at the Baden-Baden September meeting looked to be of an excellent standard, and although Stall Salzburg’s Mendocino only beat three other German-trained rivals to win the Grosser Preis von Baden, the race was a great spectacle and a high-class Group 1 race.

Alter Adler was left by the principles to make the running but did so at only a very slow pace; Frankie Dettori riding the Arc winner Torquator Tasso was the first to realise how slow they were going and started his challenge more than a mile from home.

Dettori and Torquator Tasso’s run looked like a winning one as the son of Adlerflug slowly got the better of the leader and then the Derby winner Sammarco. However, Rene Piechelek on Mendocino, another son of Adlerflug, was stalking those in front of him and managed to get up in the final strides to win by a head.

Mendocino is a four-year-old who had nearly beaten Alpinista in a Group 1 at the end of last year. Like all of his trainer Sarah Steinberg’s horses he had been well below his best during the first part of this year. Steinberg’s Munich-based stable is currently flying and Mendicino is now on an upward curve and will like the second chance in the Arc.

The four-year-old Protectionist filly Amazing Grace took the Group 2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis on her first start over 1m4f coming from behind in a slowly run race to defeat the high-class Adlerflug filly India.

Dr Berglar’s filly has been improving all year and had been Group 1-placed on her previous start after finishing third to Sweet Lady in the Corrida in May. She looks ready to compete in Group 1 races over 1m4f in the future.

Gestüt Fährhof’s two-year-old Kingman filly Habana retained her unbeaten record with an easy 2l win in the Group 3 over 7f. Held up in last place by Eduardo Pedroza, the Andreas Wohlertrained filly cruised past her rivals despite the very soft ground.

This was not the strongest of Group races but Habana could not have won more impressively and is likely to go for Group races outside Germany in the future.

Finally, there were some impressive two-year-old maiden winners in early September in Germany too, with two carrying the colours of Gestüt Röttgen.

In Baden-Baden, the Oasis Dream filly Empore just held Weltreise, a Reliable Man half-sister to Wagnis, also bred by Rottgen but sold to Jurgen Satori as a yearling, to win the fillies’ maiden over a mile. Trainers Markus Klug and Andreas Suborics were equally convinced that this is a pair of high-class prospects.

At Dusseldorf the following weekend the Protectionist colt Aspirant, a half-brother to Group horses Akribe and Ariolo, made a winning debut against more experienced rivals racing 3l clear over a mile for Röttgen and Klug.