France: Prix Jean Prat headed by Style Vendome

Style Vendome, who beat 17 3-year-olds winning the Group 1 Prix d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) in his most recent start, will have 11 opponents Sunday at Chantilly when he seeks a second straight Group 1 victory in the Prix Jean Prat.

Style Vendome was a bit lucky to win the Poulains, as narrowly beaten third-place finisher Intello, who would go on to impressively win the Prix du Jockey Club, broke from a difficult post position and twice found trouble. Nonetheless, Style Vendome has won five straight since a second-place finish to start his career, and while his class might not yet be proven and Style Vendome probably doesn’t want to run farther than the Jean Prat’s one-mile distance, he nevertheless appears the one to beat.

The Freddie Head-trained Anodin might be in better form now than when he finished seventh in the Poulains, and the Jean Prat field also includes Lines of Battle, seventh in the Kentucky Derby. Qatar Racing Limited of Sheikh Fahad has three entrants, with stable jockey Jamie Spencer landing on Anna’s Pearl. Top Chill is entered as a pace-maker for Style Vendome.◗ Though she never has contested a Group race of any sort and is a 3-year-old facing older horses, Alive Alive Oh is the antepost betting favorite for the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes on Sunday at The Curragh in Ireland. Alive Alive Oh finished third in her only start at two, and has won a pair of races at Cork and Navan by more than 10 lengths this season. She is in the Pretty Polly after her connections scratched her from the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot citing a course they deemed too fast and firm for their filly.