Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac - Criterium des Pouliches (Group 1)

NOTHING was ever likely to match Ace Impact’s ‘wow factor’ in the rest of the card, but the widest margin winner from the other five Group 1 races was Aidan O’Brien’s Opera Singer in the Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac.

A Justify half-sister to two previous Ballydoyle residents who won juvenile races at the top level on fast ground, Brave Anna and Hit It A Bomb, she made every yard of the running and came home five lengths clear of Rose Bloom.

Both trainer and jockey, Ryan Moore, were suitably impressed with the former suggesting that the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf could be next on the agenda and the latter saying: “The better the ground and the longer the trip, the better she goes. In my opinion, she should improve again next year and I’d be hopeful that she’d stay a mile and a half and be good enough to come back for the Arc in 12 months time.”

Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere

(Grand Criterium) (Group 1)

THE other two-year-old showpiece, the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, witnessed a rapid change in fortune for Rosallion, so disappointing when only third of five in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes on good to soft ground at Doncaster just a fortnight earlier. Transformed by this return to a fast surface, he proved a length too strong for the best of O’Brien’s two runners, Unquestionable, and gave his young sire Blue Point an initial Group 1 win.

The Yann Barberot-trained hot favourite Beauvatier, by contrast, was ill at ease in the quick conditions and, set plenty to do, could finish no better than third, another length and a half adrift.

Winning trainer Richard Hannon was in typically bullish form afterwards, saying: “I’m not surprised at all, he’s simply confirmed what I always thought, he’s a Group 1 horse.

“I think he’s the best that I’ve trained since Canford Cliffs and that will be it for him this season – the 2000 Guineas will be his big target next spring.”

Prix de l’Opéra Longines (Group 1)

THERE were a pair of strong Irish performances in the Qatar Prix de l’Opéra from O’Brien’s Jackie Oh and from Lumiere Rock, trained by his son, Joseph, who had beaten her into second in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes at the Curragh three weeks earlier.

This time the placings were reversed, but neither could quite cope with the mighty Churchill filly, Blue Rose Cen, who bounced back to something near her best to land the fourth Group 1 of her career by a neck.

It was a brave call from rookie trainer Christopher Head to extend an already busy season here after two defeats, but his adventurous policy paid off and Blue Rose Cen’s campaign may not be over yet, as there is talk of her having a crack at the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Incredible

Head exclaimed: “What an incredible filly! She’s had a long and difficult season but she’s always gone particularly well here and I’m honoured to have been given the chance to train her. This victory means a lot.

“The Prix Vermeille proved that she doesn’t quite stay a mile and a half so we now know what her limit is which puts us in good shape when we are formulating her race programme for next year.

“Her recent reverses didn’t worry me at all, we ran her at Goodwood and in the Vermeille because her sporting owner [Fernando Pujals] loves a challenge, which is why she ran again today.”

Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines (Group 1)

HIGHFIELD Princess enjoyed some luck for a change to land her first Group 1 of the season in the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines, matching Blue Rose Cen’s tally as she had won three more in a remarkable five-week period last year.

Encumbered with a wide draw, she was given an ultra-aggressive ride by Jason Hart, who was pushing her along from the word go and started employing his whip soon after passing the two-furlong marker.

Highfield Princess answered his every call but it took her until deep inside the final furlong to overhaul the front-running Perdika, who took full advantage of her own draw against the inside rail.

The winning margin was a length, with the George Boughey-trained Perdika just holding on for second in a blanket finish ahead of Aidan O’Brien’s first-time blinkered Aesop’s Fables.

It was another magnificent success for a mare trained by John Quinn and both owned and bred by the former Channel 4 Racing boss John Fairley, who lives at Quinn’s Highfield Stables in the village of Settrington, Yorkshire, and dotes daily on his next-door neighbour – the perfectly-named Highfield Princess.

Qatar Prix de la Foret (Group 1)

IN the weekend’s final Group 1, the Qatar Prix de la Foret, all eyes (except those of the stewards, who failed to hold an inquiry, and had to wait for an objection to be lodged) were on Frankie Dettori, who, after beating just two home aboard Free Wind in the Arc, had what is likely to be his final ParisLongchamp ride atop the odds-on favourite and defending champion Kinross.

After drifting back from a prime early position over this tricky seven-furlong course, Kinross moved up well at the top of the long home straight but, pestered by Kelina, on his outside, and Shouldvebeenaring on his inner, was slightly hampered at a crucial stage. Despite charging late, he was still half a length behind Kelina at the winning line with Shouldvebeenaring a length and a quarter back in third.

Dettori’s objection was thrown out and the Carlos-Laffon Parias-trained Kelina, who loves firm ground but had run a stinker on it in the Prix du Moulin four weeks earlier, finally broke her Group 1 duck a year to the day after starting favourite and finishing last (as my nap selection!) in the Prix Marcel Boussac.