English Guineas winner Chaldean tops Prix Jean Prat

Chaldean will be without regular rider Frankie Dettori when he seeks his third Group 1 in the Prix Jean Prat on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse.

With Dettori serving a nine-day suspension picked up at Royal Ascot, Oisin Murphy has the ride on Chaldean, who won the Group 1 Dewhurst last fall and the English 2000 Guineas in May. At Royal Ascot in the St. James’s Palace Stakes, Chaldean ran well enough but was no match for Paddington, who was to face older horses this weekend in the Eclipse Stakes.

Chaldean on Sunday cuts back to seven furlongs, where he has won all four of his starts save the Greenham Stakes in April, where he dropped Dettori just after the start. The Juddmonte homebred by Frankel ought to be all right on a Deauville course that as of Friday was labeled “good.”

While seven furlongs seems like the right trip, soft going might not work well for Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Meditate, who has performed creditably while failing to win in her three starts this season.

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Meditate is one of three fillies in the race along with Showay and Sauterne, the latter third over one mile in the French 1000 Guineas, won in a romp by standout Blue Rose Cen.

Hi Royal finished second at 125-1 behind Chaldean in the Guineas at Newmarket and validated that form with a third in the Irish 2000 Guineas. Hi Royal goes well on soft ground and, like Chaldean, could suit the minor turn-back in trip.

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