France: Diego Velazquez surprises with Prix Jacques le Marois win
Diego Velazquez upset the Prix Jacques le Marois on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse in France, though the story regarding the Group 1 Marois included key roles for the runner-up and a non-participant.
Racing just four days after being purchased by owner Sam Sangster, who plans to stand 4-year-old Diego Velazquez at stud after this racing season, Diego Velazquez, making his 11th start, won for the first time at the Group 1 level. Aidan O’Brien trains the winner, whose task became easier when likely favorite Rosallion was scratched because of a bruised hoof.
Diego Velazquez’s victory had everything to do with trip. The colt and jockey Christophe Soumillon sat second, racing in the clear just behind his pacesetting stablemate The Lion in Winter, for much of the straight-course mile. The Lion in Winter folded, eventually fading to last, Diego Velazquez inherited the lead, and the finish came while he still led by a head over onrushing Notable Speech.
Notable Speech, still winless this year, ran easily his best race since a very close third in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Mile, and had he found room to launch his final bid just a couple strides sooner, he’d have won the Marois. Instead, jockey William Buick, rating his mount near the rear, had to wait for Docklands, blocking Notable Speech’s path with about a furlong of the straight-course mile remaining, to move right and open a gap. Buick then dove to the inside rail and Notable Speech finished furiously to just miss while clipping past third-place Dancing Gemini as though he ran in slow motion.
The Breeders’ Cup removed the Marois this year from the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, but the race could set up Notable Speech for a competitive return to Del Mar in the fall. Perhaps he’d meet Diego Velazquez again, the Marois winner having improved mightily since he began his campaign losing the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot by 15 lengths.
Diego Velazquez is by Frankel out of Sweepstake, by Acclamation. He won the Marois on Sunday after a career-best performance – and plenty of racing luck.
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