Prix de Diane (Group 1)

SPARKLING Plenty was the name on everyone’s lips last Sunday when she prevailed in a tight finish to the Group 1 Prix de Diane Longines. Then, little more than 24 hours later, she was back making the headlines, this time in the sales ring.

With the Kingman filly herself still en route back from Chantilly to her stable at Calas, outside Marseille, she was sold in absentia for £8.1 million at the Goffs London Sale, then not sold as it came to light that the final bid had been from her owner-breeder, then sold again as the man in question, Jean-Pierre Dubois, decided that he would, after all, be prepared to give up 50% of her on condition that she remained in France.

With Goffs approval, Dubois accepted an offer of €5 million from Al Shaqab Racing for a half share. What an incredible couple of days for a filly whose name was unknown to most European racing fans up until 4.10pm, French time, on Sunday afternoon!

Stellar achievements

Perhaps the spotlight should really fall on Dubois, a self-made man who has won everything that there is to win in the ultra-competitive world of French trotting racing, as owner, trainer and driver but, perhaps most significantly of all, has revolutionized that sport’s breeding industry. As if those achievements were not enough, Dubois has in recent decades turned his attention to both jump and flat racing, last year landing the Prix du Moulin with another Kingman filly and close relative of Sparkling Plenty, Sauterne, herself subsequently sold in America for a whopping $4.2 million.

On Sunday, a few days shy of his 84th birthday, Dubois was out on the track after the Diane to receive the winner’s trophy. He may be old, but he still has sparkle aplenty!

It will concern Dubois not one jot that the Diane was a messy affair, in which his representative was fortunate to enjoy a relatively untroubled passage, though Sparkling Plenty deserves extra credit for having come from the rear off a pedestrian pace.

Hard luck

The real hard-luck story of the race came from Survie, who was blocked on more than one occasion yet came within a head of providing trainer Nicolas Clement with his first Group 1 since 2018 and just his second in the last 11 years. David Menuisier’s Tamfana, herself so unlucky when fourth in the 1000 Guineas, went close again, finishing third, having hit the front a quarter of a mile from the finish, but this time she had no excuses save that perhaps this extended mile-and-two stretches her stamina.

Aventure, the favourite, looked the likeliest winner passing the furlong pole only for her effort to flatten out, while Dare To Dream was another to experience traffic and did well to finish fifth, leaving her Irish-born, Chantilly-based trainer, Gavin Hernon, contemplating a crack at the Irish Oaks.

The winner is trained at Calas by Patrice Cottier, who has possessed a licence for some 15 years but had never managed more than a handful of victories per season until employing former trainer Cedric Rossi as his assistant some two years ago and suddenly hitting the big time.

On the sidelines

She should have been ridden by Cristian Demuro, who was on board when she lifted the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham, but he was sidelined by a hand injury, meaning that Tony Piccone, himself jocked off another potential top-notcher when Fast Tracker was sold to Wathnan Racing, was this time the beneficiary of the wheel of fortune.

Following her sale on Monday, Nicolas de Watrigant, spokesman for Al Shaqab Racing, suggested that Sparkling Plenty’s next assignment is likely to be the Nassau Stakes with either the Prix de l’Opéra or Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe potential end-of-season goals.

THE star of Sunday’s undercard was Delius, a Coolmore Stud-owned son of Frankel, purchased for 675,000 guineas as a foal, who took his career record to a perfect three-from-three when notching a comfortable two length success in the mile and four Group 3 Prix du Lys under an impressed Christophe Soumillon.

Hopefully, this result will have provided a pick-me-up for the winning trainer, Jean-Claude Rouget, who is undergoing treatment for lymphoma. In his absence, Delius was saddled by his long-serving assistant Jean-Bernard Roth, who suggested that a summer break, rather than a tilt at the Grand Prix de Paris, is the most likely next step for this late-developing colt, who holds an entry in the Arc.

Moderate youngsters

The French may have successfully defended all six domestic Group 1 races that have been run so far this season, but their early-season two-year-olds have looked to be a moderate bunch, as was underlined when Karl Burke’s British raider, Arabie, landed their first juvenile pattern contest, the Group 3 Prix du Bois Longines.

Last year’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains hero Marhaba Ya Sanafi notched his biggest subsequent victory when gaining a head verdict in the Group 3 Prix Bertand du Breuil Longines, but will need to find plenty more to make much impact in his likely next race, the Prix Jacques Le Marois.