DEAUVILLE SUNDAY
3.20 PRIX DU HARAS DE FRESNAY-LE-BUFFARD JACQUES LE MAROIS (GROUP 1 3YO+ COLTS & FILLIES) of €1,000,000. 1M
Owner-breeders the Niarchos Family have been sponsoring the Deauville Group 1 feature, the Prix Jacques Le Marois, under the name of their Normandy stud (the Haras de Fresnay-Le Buffard) ever since 1986 and have always liked to support the race with runners of their own.
After a stellar start, taking the winner’s trophy eight times in the first 18 years of sponsorship, they have not tasted victory since Six Perfections prevailed in 2003.
That drought should come to an end tomorrow when the magnificent Alpha Centauri, a great granddaughter of their 1987 and 1988 Marois heroine, Miesque, lines up for this famous straight mile contest.
Jessica Harrington’s Mastercraftsman filly will be taking on the boys for the first time in her life. Yet the style of her three Group 1 wins this season – in particular the two most recent, when demolishing her opposition in both the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket – suggests that she is not just the best of her own sex or the best of her age group, but the best miler in Europe full stop.
The one factor that had been causing her connections some concern over recent days is the possibility of the recent heatwave being brought to an end with a huge storm and the consequent deluge changing the ground to ‘soft’ or worse.
Her only two unplaced efforts in eight career starts have both come when the word ‘heavy’ has appeared in the going description.
Deauville experienced 13 millimetres of rain missed a big downpour on Thursday but no further is forecast and the ground should dry out to on the fast side tomorrow.
On paper the opposition to Alpha Centauri looks strong, including no less than five Group 1 winners this season, most of those top-level victories have come either in substandard races or at long odds.
During the spring, Recoletos stamped himself as one of France’s top older horses by winning both the Prix du Muguet, over this trip, and the Prix d’Ispahan, over an extra furlong. But he then took a step backwards in the Queen Anne Stakes, getting going when it was all too late before finishing seventh behind the shock 33/1 winner, Accidental Agent.
The pair will meet again tomorrow and there is no real reason to expect Accidental Agent, who goes best on a straight course, not to again come out on top.
While Alpha Centauri’s supporters will be hoping that the rain stays away, the opposite is true for the other two Irish challengers, the Ken Condon-trained stablemates Romanised and Success Days.
After springing a 25/1 surprise in the Irish 2000 Guineas, Romanised flopped in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, with Condon blaming the fast ground. Success Days is even more going dependent – the six-year-old has won three Group 3s and a Group 2, but all when there was plenty of juice in the ground.
French three-year-old form is represented by Intellogent and Cascadian, the first two home from the Prix Jean Prat over this course and distance last month, and With You, winner of another showpiece event over this track and trip, the Prix Rothschild, just a fortnight ago.
The female classic crop may be better than their male counterparts so, with her trainer, Freddy Head, in brilliant form, With You gets a narrow vote to chase home Alpha Centauri.
SELECTION: ALPHA CENTAURI Next Best: With You
The chief supporting race, the Group 3 Prix Minerve for three-year-old fillies over an extended mile and a half, could see Head continue his recent purple patch thanks to his Prix de Malleret runner-up, Fuse, at the expense of Zarkava’s daughter, Zarkamiya.