Darley Prix Morny (Group 1)

AIDAN O’Brien’s two-year-old troop, which had initially looked to be below Ballydoyle’s usual standards when producing a single top-three finisher in Royal Ascot’s four juvenile pattern races, now looks like a choice selection after Blackbeard broke a 21-year drought for his handler in the Group 1 Darley Prix Morny at Deauville last Sunday.

Following on from a fabulous Saturday, when his confrères visited the winner’s enclosure five times (including after two Group 2s and a listed), Blackbeard had to knuckle down in the closing stages to emulate his sire, No Nay Never, who took this six-furlong showpiece in 2013.

In the end, his margin of victory over Persian Force was a fairly convincing half-length, with the O’Brien second string, The Antarctic, a further length and a half back in third.

Ascot form

The result overturned Royal Ascot form, where Persian Force finished two and a quarter lengths ahead of Blackbeard in the Coventry Stakes.

It prompted an obvious line of questioning, inviting O’Brien to juxtapose the winner with his stablemate, Little Big Bear, who had slaughtered the runner-up by seven lengths when romping away with the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes a fortnight previously.

“I can’t really compare the two,” was the typically guarded response. “Blackbeard is a proper, early-maturing, fast two-year-old and the programme is broad enough to allow us to keep them apart.

“The logical way to go with Little Big Bear is the National Stakes while this one has the option of the Middle Park Stakes or the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, while the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint will also be considered. Racing around a bend at Keeneland should suit him.”

Alluding to Blackbeard’s boisterous behaviour behind the stalls (he was then perfectly behaved both going into the gate and during the race), O’Brien added: “I wasn’t concerned at all, he’s done that before, he just likes to show off a bit.”

LAST Sunday’s other top-level contest, the Darley Prix Jean Romanet for older fillies over a mile and quarter, played host to the eagerly anticipated European debut of the Australian wondermare and spellcheckers nightmare Verry Elleegant.

She fluffed her lines badly, leaving the finish to be fought out between the other two visitors, Aristia from England and Rosscarbery from Ireland. They filled the first two positions throughout with Aristia eventually prevailing by a neck.

Rather predictably, given that the lead actress stays much further and the supporting cast were a slightly sub-standard bunch hoping to take advantage of her lack of sharpness to open their Group 1 accounts, the race was blighted by a slow pace and became a three-furlong burn-up.

And once Frankie Dettori was happy to allow Verry Elleegant to potter along in last, two lengths detached from the other six runners, she would have needed to be Winx and Black Caviar rolled into one to win from such a disadvantageous position.

Her failure to finish in front of a single rival did raise a few eyebrows, though her new trainer, Francis Graffard, managed to put a brave face on things afterwards, saving his disapproval for the state of track.

“It’s abominable,” Graffard complained, “nothing seems able to come from off the pace. Frankie said that Verry Elleegant was rusty and needed the run. I think we will try again with her in the Prix Vermeille, where a mile and a half and softer ground will be much more suitable.”

Winning trainer Richard Hannon was swift to deflect credit towards his stable jockey, Sean Levey, revealing that Swaziland-born rider came up with the plan to make the running. “Winning these Group 1s is nigh on impossible and I couldn’t be more delighted,” Hannon said.

The victory was particularly sweet for owner Bunny Roberts, who lives 100 miles from Deauville on the island of Jersey, where she is an enthusiastic president of the Jersey Race Club.

Her family connections with racing date back for over a century and the 1982 Oaks was won by Time Charter, carrying the colours of her brother, Robert Barnett.

Until now, the biggest success in her own ‘black with a red sash’ silks had come over jumps courtesy of the chasing mare Fiddling The Facts.

Still happy

Reacting to Rosscarbery’s performance, trainer Paddy Twomey said: “She may have been beaten but I’m still very happy. After her unfortunate Group 1 disqualification she’s now got her Group 1 placing.”

“It was her seventh run of the season, she only won her maiden in April, and she’s so versatile. Polytrack, good ground, soft ground – they all come the same to her and she’s won over both a mile and a mile and three-quarters, she can do it all!”