Prix de Diane (Group 1)
BLUE Rose Cen’s resounding victory in last Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de Diane Longines was another incredible moment for the Head family.
When Treve won her second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2014 it seemed to be the crowning achievement of the Head clan, the apogee of nearly 150 years of involvement at or near the top of France’s racing tree.
Treve was trained with a velvet touch by Criquette Head and bred by her father, Alec, and was a third straight Arc triumph for the extended family, Criquette’s son-in-law Carlos Laffon-Parias having taken it in 2012 with Solemia.
Yet Blue Rose Cen’s performance on Sunday may have topped Treve’s in the Head household, not primarily because of her brilliance, nor because she is trained by a fifth generation of the brood - by Criquette’s nephew Christopher Head, son of champion jockey Freddy Head, who is best known as the trainer responsible for Europe’s most prolific Group 1 scorer, Goldikova.
No, the reason why this was such a significant moment is that it came just days after the winning handler’s paternal grandmother, Ghislaine, had died, and less than a year after the passing of her husband, Alec.
With pride
“I was thinking of my grandfather as Blue Rose Cen crossed the winning line,” 38-year-old Christopher admitted. “I hoped that he was looking down on me with pride.”
“My grandparents were pillars of my life and will remain so forever. Winning two classics means a lot but, compared to them, or to my father, or to my aunt, I still have a lot to prove.”
This looked to be one of the best renewals of the Diane for some time but, helped by an inside draw and a swift start, Blue Rose Cen proved much the best and now deserves mention in the same breath as Treve, Goldikova and any of the country’s other greats of yesteryear, including Zarkava and Allez France.
The daughter of Churchill has contested three Group 1 races and won them all decisively, by a combined total of almost 11 lengths.
Christopher’s race plan was a simple one: let his other runner, Wise Girl, make the running, allow Blue Rose Cen to track her while taking advantage of the shortest way along the inside rail, then let the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix Marcel Boussac heroine demonstrate her electrifying turn of foot in the home straight.
Third time
Nothing could live with her, but Aidan O’Brien’s bold decision to take her on for a third time with Never Ending Story was rewarded with a fine second place, a respectful four lengths behind.
The Irish raider just held off the late charge of Tasmania by a short-head while Wise Girl was half a length further back in fourth, adding further gloss to the day for Head junior, who had earlier watched his only other runner on the card, the Justify filly Ramatuelle, shoot to the top of the nascent juvenile standings with a superb five-length victory in the Group 3 Prix du Bois Longines.
And to think that, but for the presence of Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club line-up, Big Rock would have landed that race by a clearcut margin and Head, a man who first took out a training licence in 2018 and has yet to even make it to 50 career victories, would have landed three of the first four classics of the French season.
Improve again
O’Brien, a man who has been dominating the Irish and English classics for years, said: “Never Ending Story improved for this step up to an extended mile and a quarter and I think she can improve again and stay further. A race like the Irish Oaks could suit her, though we also have Savethelastdance for that.”
Yet the result must have prompted some thoughts of ‘what might have been’ from the Master of Ballydoyle as his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf victor, Victoria Road, is the only horse to have beaten Blue Rose Cen in her last eight starts.
Pencilled in for the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the Jockey Club before the campaign got under way, Victoria Road has yet to make his three-year-old debut.
Hopeful
Plans for Blue Rose Cen remain fluid, though Head is hopeful that she and Big Rock, who are both home-breds who run in the colours of the Spanish businessman Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, will remain in training next year.
She does not hold an entry in the Arc, but may yet be supplemented and try to give La Famille Head its 12th triumph in the autumn showpiece since William Head took its 1947 renewal with Le Paillon.
THE Italian-born Chantilly trainer Mario Baratti landed his first French pattern prize three weeks after he lifted the Group 2 German 2000 Guineas with Angers when Rubis Vendome responded well to being ridden more prominently by Oisin Murphy in the mile and a half Group 3 Prix du Lys Longines and beat Silawi by three quarters of a length. The Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris on July 14th is his next target.
Andre Fabre suffered two notable setbacks when Pensee Du Jour suffered her first defeat in beating just two home in the Diane and when the favourite, Maniatic, could manage only third in the Lys.
But Fabre salvaged his day with the Godolphin-owned and -bred Farhh colt, Tribalist, who defied a penalty to make all the running in the Group 3 Prix Bertrand du Breuil and is now on line for a return to Group 1 company in the Prix Jacques Le Marois.
Finally, Newmarket trainer Amy Murphy has been doing well with her French sorties of late and she landed a fabulous first prize of €25,000 when her Blue Point filly, Needlepoint, beat off six fellow juvenile debutants in the opening Prix de la Reine Blanche over five furlongs and 110yards.