French racing: Graeme North tips for Deauville Sunday card & recent review

Sunday’s series of Group action continues at Deauville this weekend with the Prix Maurice de Gheest which has attracted a monster-sized field with the 16 runners going to post being the biggest since Polydream beat 19 rivals in 2018.

British trainers have had a lot of success in the contest in recent years, winning it seven times since 2010, and this year send over six challengers who will also be joined by Matilda Picotte from Ireland.

2024 Duke of York and July Cup winner Mill Stream unquestionably brings the best form to the table and won’t lack for course experience either having won both his previous starts at Deauville last summer.

The enigmatic dual Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee winner Khaadem can boast form almost as good, not that he always shows it, while the Duke of York runner-up and recent course winner (in the Prix Ris-Orangis) winner Shouldvebeenaring is another British-trained runner with good claims, not that he always puts his best forward either.

Matilde Picotte hasn’t shown her best form yet this season but a return to the level she was at last autumn when she won the Sceptre Stakes and the Challenge Stakes would put her in the picture and winning form over seven furlongs is always something to bear in mind when analysing the chances of those contesting this unique straight 1300m (around six and a half furlongs) distance.

France don’t produce many out-and-out sprinters these days and most of the home challenge are dropping back in trip.

Lazzatt and Havana Cigar are two of those with the best credentials having filled the first two places in the Prix Paul de Moussac in June, while recent Group One Prix Jean Prat winner Puchkine winner as well as Jean Prat third Beauvatier (supplemented) are two others following the same path.

Reigning champion King Gold is bidding to become the first horse since Moonlight Cloud in 2013 to win back-to-back runnings and comes here with a recent success under his belt having landed the Prix de la Porte Maillot last time, but interestingly the runner-up Exxtra was still only sixth running into the last 200m that day and ended up being only being beaten a head.

Great Generation and the supplemented Flora of Bermuda are two others with chances but MILL STREAM represents bona fide Group One form and he and the filly EXXTRA, who’ve I’ve long thought would be ideal for a race like this, are my two against the field.

The supporting Group Three Prix Daphnis over a mile for three-year-olds who haven’t won a Group Two this year has attracted seven runners including two who ran in the French 2000, Ramadan and Supercooled, as well as Darlinghurst who missed that race but was sent over to Ascot to contest the St James’s Palace Stakes.

He ran well for a long way in that race with Christophe Soumillon holding onto him for as long as he could, but he didn’t look particularly happy on the very fast ground once let down.

While the going should be quick at Deauville, it won’t be anywhere near as quick as at Ascot and his previous two runs read very well having got the better of the subsequent French Derby second First Look readily in the Prix de Guiche and the now 110-rated Wootton Verni and 109-rated Mondo Man in a listed race before that at Chantilly.

There was only a short head between fifth-placed Ramadan and sixth-placed Supercooled at ParisLongchamp since when Ramadan got panned by the draw in the French Derby and finished well held while Supercooled has been finished second in a listed contest at Chantilly. That listed contest looks a significant piece of form, however, with the third horse No Lunch coming from a mile back in a race that wasn’t strongly run (finishing speed 108%) and sectional upgrades credit the progressive late-developing son of Dubawi with a better overall performance than Supercooled.

Darlinghurst remains the one to beat - he has the highest official rating and 6lb in hand of No Lunch even after the weight he has to concede is taken into account – but the French official handicapper is well known for taking results at face value and take that last listed contest at Chantilly at face value you can’t. No prices were available at the time of writing, but I’ll be having a few quid on NO LUNCH if I can get 9/2 or better.

The card also features two listed races.

Best of the rest at Deauville

The Prix Moonlight Cloud over six furlongs has attracted four British-trained entries, Greenham second El Bodon, Commonwealth Cup seventh Louis Barthas, improving handicapper No Half Measures and the listed-class Star Music who is now back with Ed Walker.

The latter is taking a step up in grade here but looks more than ready for it being well clear on Timeform ratings and might go slightly under the radar with the home betting public probably likely to focus on Jasna’s Secret who was sent over for last year’s Cheveley Park Stakes.

The Prix du Cercle over 1000m has attracted Bradsell from the Archie Watson yard and Tees Spirit from the Adrian Nicholls stable as well as She’s Quality from Ireland.

Bradsell really ought to win with a bit to spare on his best form, but his Kings Stand Stakes success last year is something of a standout effort and he hasn’t been seen for nearly a year. Tees Spirit could go well for all he looks to face a stiffish task while Mgheera who won the listed Prix Hampton at Chantilly in June by two-and-a-half lengths looks comfortably the best of the home defence.

Guyon enjoys big-race spree

There was some interesting action at both Clairefontaine and Deauville at the end of July starting with the former venue on Saturday where three listed races took place, all of whose winners were ridden by Maxime Guyon with one of those being the William Haggas-trained Sea Theme in the Prix Luth Enchantee.

Sea Theme was one of three British or Irish trained runners in the 2400m contest with the others being Scarlett O’Hara from the Jessica Harrington yard, who ended up finishing second, and David Simcock's Empress Wu who never threatened in the face of yet another stiff task and finished eighth.

Sea Theme didn’t look to win by quite as far as the official four-and-a-half lengths suggest, her winning distance clearly short of four, but it was still a dominant return to form after finding things tough in the Pinnacle Stakes and the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock and finally went some way to confirming the potential she’d shown when winning the Galtres at York last season where she had beaten the now higher-rated pair One Evening and Tregony.

Munster Oaks third Scarlett O’Hara (who’d had Sea Theme behind her when the pair were down the field in the Princess Royal last autumn) probably wasn’t helped by making her challenge more towards the inside but was clear second best on the day anyway.

Can Hamavi follow in Goliath hoofprints?

Easily the more interesting of the other two races was the Grand Prix de Clairefontaine and not just because last year it saw the emergence of a certain Goliath.

Whether this year’s winner Hamavi has it in him to reach the heights Goliath has scaled remains to be seen, but he’s now won three of his five races. He was helped to a degree by the British-trained runner-up Go Daddy staying more towards the far side and being asked a big question by rider Lewis Edmunds to try and come from near last to first, running very well in the circumstances and improving on his King George V handicap third place, but Hamavi is not a horse that does much quickly and was well on top at the line. I’d imagine he can improve on his current 108 rating stepped up further in trip.

The feature event at Deauville on Sunday was the Group One Prix Rothschild which saw Mqse de Sevigne attempt to defend her crown. Six fillies and mares took her on, headed as the betting saw it by the 2023 Duke of Cambridge winner and recent Falmouth third Rogue Millennium and the dual 2023 French classic winner Blue Rose Cen but neither of that duo look the force of old, particularly Blue Rose Cen whose form has gone backwards alarmingly since changing stable.

In the end Mqse de Sevigne, who was sent off odds on, was run closest by Excellent Truth who had won the Prix de Pysche on this card last year and had a recent win at Longchamp under her belt.

In truth, Mqse de Sevigne wasn’t at all hard pressed in coming from further back than the second and third, worth another 5lb over and above the result by my reckoning relative to Excellent Truth, and her defeat by Inspiral in the Sun Chariot last autumn remains her only loss for over a year. Prix Foret winner Kelina was a disappointment for all a shorter trip and faster ground would have suited her better.

Prix Yacowlef winner Apollo Fountain was sent off favourite for the Prix Cabourg but raced keenly again, found herself too far back in a steadily run contest in which the finishing speed from 400m came in at 109.5% and all in all shaped as though 1000m might be her best trip for now.

Coventry third Columnist didn’t do much for the form of that race finishing just a respectable third, leaving the way open for Daylight who had paid for trying to match strides with subsequent Prix Robert Papin winner Arabie (now 105p) in the Prix du Bois last time but showed improved form here under a more conservative ride.

The other two-year-old contest on the card, the Prix Six Perfections, looked an up-to-scratch renewal, not that is saying much, but it was another tactical affair with the winner Angeal better placed than the John Quinn-trained runner-up Royalty Bay who could never quite close her down.

On another day this is a result that might well get turned round with both third-placed Relaxx and fourth-placed Tom Clover trained Biniorella Bay looking better than the bare result, the former because she was set too much to do and the latter because she had to sit and suffer with nowhere to go for the best part of 250m with the race over by the time she got clear.

The final Group race, the Prix de Psyche, was about as tactical a contest as you'll see in France with the finishing speed coming in at 114%.

The winner Almara was in the best position throughout, making the running as she has before, but Rock’N Swing certainly wasn’t, set far too much to do again and can be rated again as the moral but not actual winner while leaving the impression she’ll be better off back in a strongly run 1600m.

Irish-trained runner-up Uluru who had been third in the Sandringham stepped forward again despite the very different pace scenario here and needs her effort upgrading albeit not quite to the same extent as Rock’N Swing given where she came from.

Ed Walker’s Scenic finished third in the listed Prix du Carrousel, running right up to form under a sensible prominent ride from Saffie Osborne but the winner Goya Senora had a bit in hand having come from last place on the home turn.

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