Immortal Verse upsets Goldikova in Prix Jacques le Marois

The 3-year-old filly Immortal Verse, the winner of the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, upset the heavily favored Goldikova in Monday’s Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville, France.

The loss prevented Goldikova from winning the 15th Group 1 race of her career, and was the second consecutive year in which she was beaten in the Prix Jacques le Marois, one of the top mile races in Europe each summer.

The race was part of the Breeders’ Cup’s Challenge program, giving the winner a fees-paid berth to the BC Mile at Churchill Downs in November, a race that Goldikova has won the last three years. Immortal Verse is being considered for the BC Mile, trainer Robert Collet said after the race.

Immortal Verse, unraced since June, closed from last in a field of 12 under Gerald Mosse to win by a length over Goldikova as a 13-1 outsider in the French tote pools. Sahpresa, a 6-year-old mare who won Group 1 races in England in 2009 and 2010, finished third, giving fillies and mares a sweep of the first three positions.

Goldikova, a 6-year-old mare by Anabaa, was in midfield early in the race. Ridden by Olivier Peslier, Goldikova moved closer to the leaders with a quarter-mile remaining, but could not close the gap, finishing a nose in front of Sahpresa.

Goldikova won the 2009 Prix Jacques le Marois, but was second to Makfi in 2010.

Immortal Verse is owned by Richard Strauss. A 3-year-old Irish-bred filly by Pivotal, Immortal Verse has won three consecutive group stakes, a streak that began in the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham in France in early June.