Prix Jean Prat (Group 1)

IF the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud stuck pretty close to the expected script, last Sunday’s Haras d’Etreham Prix Jean Prat played out contrary to almost everyone’s expectation.

All four of its renewals since it was cut back in distance from a mile to seven furlongs in 2019 had been won by Irish and British raiders, two apiece, and that trend looked set to continue with Chaldean the most vaunted of six visitors in a field reduced to 12 after the German Guineas heroine Habana was withdrawn when overnight rain turned the terrain at Deauville to soft.

Yet, from well over a quarter of a mile from the winning post, a French victory was assured, and the identity of the winning handler, Fabrice Chappet, ought not to have come as any great surprise as he was the man responsible for Intellogent, the last home-trained winner of the race five years earlier.

Sauterne, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches third who seemed likely beforehand to relish this shorter trip, jumped off smartly in the centre of the course and not far beyond the halfway mark had her chasers in that section of the track, headed by Chaldean, struggling to keep in touch.

Only danger

Despite having edged even further away from the stands’ rail, Sauterne was still clear approaching the furlong pole but by this time Good Guess had emerged from the group on the inside to become her only danger.

And the son of Kodiac quickened up superbly to give his Tally-Ho Stud sire his seventh different Group 1 winner, stretching three lengths ahead of Sauterne at the line with Breizh Sky faring best of the main field to be the same distance back in third, ahead of the British pair of Indestructible and Shouldvebeenaring.

Aidan O’Brien’s Meditate possibly found both the shorter distance and the ground against her and finished last but one.

There was a slight foreign tinge to the result as Good Guess, a 420,000gns purchase at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, was a first Group 1 scorer for Japanese owner Hisaaki Saito and was bred in Britain by Cheveley Park Stud out of an unraced daughter of their classic-winning mare Russian Rhythm, who won three other top level contests including the Lockinge Stakes.

Good Guess had shown his liking for this course and distance when lifting the Group 3 Prix Djebel back in April.

His two subsequent efforts, when down the field after a slow start in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and when a strong-finishing second to Breizh Sky when coming from well off a slow pace in the Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac, explained Sunday’s odds of 24/1.

High class

Chappet, who was to complete a famous stakes race treble on the card thanks to the listed victories of the fillies Sivka Burka and Gregarina, said: “We have always believed that Good Guess was a high class colt and today he’s confirmed that.

“We will think about dropping him back in distance for the Prix Maurice de Gheest but I think he is more likely to return to the mile and go for the Prix Jacques Le Marois.”

Andrew Balding, trainer of Chaldean, was mystified, saying: “Nothing abnormal has come to light yet but it may just be that he has had a busy spring and needs a rest.”

Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Group 1)

A 50% strike rate ain’t so bad.

Juddmonte sent a pair of British raiders across The Channel to plunder top French prizes last weekend and both were hot favourites to land their respective Group 1s.

Westover duly did the business in last Saturday’s Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, even breaking Alpinista’s year-old race record time in the process, but Chaldean was a shadow of the horse who landed the English 2000 Guineas and could manage no better than seventh in a home-dominated renewal of the Prix Jean Prat.

Westover did pretty much everything that could have been expected of him and must still be in the mix for all of Europe’s top all-aged races over a mile and a half and beyond until season’s end.

The only real surprise here was that the German raider, Tunnes, set such a strong pace that Malabu Drive, shipped in from the Ger Lyons yard to join Westover at the Ralph Beckett operation with the simple aim of setting a good enough gallop to ensure that his new stablemate would not have the opportunity to show his tendency to pull hard in the early stages, might just as well have remained in Ireland.

A half-brother to a confirmed mud-lover in Torquator Tasso, there are still reasons to believe that Tunnes can be close to the continent’s best horses granted his ideal conditions, but the rain did not come in time for him here and jockey Rene Piechulek, hardly a regular attendee at Paris’ number two track, appeared to get the fractions wrong out in front.

Relentlessly

Westover was given the office by his rider, Rob Hornby, rounding the home turn, and just kept on galloping relentlessly from there.

For a moment or two the chasing Zagrey was going much better than the leader, and Junko was still close enough in third to not be counted out passing the furlong marker, yet, just like he had showed when battling on gamely behind Emily Upjohn in the Coronation Cup, stamina is one of Westover’s key assets, and the Frankel four-year-old began to stretch away in the last 100 yards.

The winning margin was two lengths, Zagrey taking second and getting a little closer than the last time we saw him, when he was three and a half lengths adrift as the pair filled the place berths behind Equinox in the Dubai Sheema Classic at the end of March.

Junko was three lengths back in third and there was a yawning nine-length break to Tunnes in fourth.

Beckett said: “No race is a done deal before the off but we were hopeful that he would produce something like that. Now we can starting talking about the rest of his campaign.

Stepping up

“He’s entered in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe but he’s also in the King George [an event in which he over-raced and produced a rare below-par display in 2022] and we also might think about stepping him up in trip.”

If they do, the Irish St Leger looks like an obvious target for a horse that proved his liking for the Curragh in his Irish Derby triumph.

Hornby added: “It’s a dream come true to win a big one in these colours, silks that I remember vividly from my childhood and that carry such prestige. Winning anything wearing them is massive but winning a Group 1 is a real honour.

“The pace was strong and I was able to kick for home early, knowing that he would be strong at the line. It’s my third Group 1 for Ralph and my fourth in all and these are the races that really matter to a jockey.”

Yann Barberot, Zagrey’s trainer, was far from downcast, saying: “I’m perfectly satisfied with his performance. At one point I even thought that he might overhaul Westover, but he had a recent race in his legs and that helped him go again late on. Zagrey needed it and would certainly prefer more cut in the ground so the Arc is still a possibility for him.”

DERMOT Weld’s ambitious plan to step his once-raced Kingman colt, Knight To King, straight up to Group 2 level and sail across to France for the Prix Eugene Adam, looked to be proceeding smoothly when he was again able to dictate from the front in this five-runner mile and two furlong event at Saint-Cloud on Saturday.

So it was something of a disappointment that he ended up finishing fourth, almost five lengths behind the impressive winner, the Patrice Cottier-trained gelding Horizon Dore, who was paying a handsome compliment to his comprehensive Prix de Guiche conqueror and subsequent Prix du Jockey Club runner-up, Big Rock.

Highlight of Sunday’s Deauville undercard was probably the Barberot-trained Lope De Vega juvenile colt Beauvatier stepping up to seven furlongs and maintaining his unbeaten record in the Listed Prix Roland de Chambure, though Spycatcher deserves a mention for his three-length victory in the Prix de Ris-Orangis which gave Yorkshire trainer Karl Burke his third Group 3 sprint success of the French season, following in the hoofprints of Marshman and White Lavender.