France: Venetian Sun gets up over Gstaad to win Prix Morny

The 2-year-old filly Venetian Sun remained unbeaten and the 5-year-old mare Quisisana remained unbeaten this year, each winning a Group 1 race Sunday at Deauville Racecourse in France.

Venetian Sun got home by a head over favored Gstaad in the Group 1 Prix Morny, running her mark to four wins from four starts for England-based trainer Karl Burke. Venetian’s Sun jockey, Clifford Lee, scored his first Group 1 victory as Venetian Sun stepped up from Group 2 and Group 3 victories to capture the Morny, run over a straight six furlongs.

Stalking the pace and coming late, Venetian Sun made good use of the four-pound sex allowance she got from Gstaad, winner of the Coventry at Royal Ascot. The Godolphin colt Wise Approach finished a good third, while the Wesley Ward-trained American shipper Outfielder hit the gate at the start, led, and faded to finish fourth, two lengths out of third. Venetian Sun is by Starman out of Johara, by Ifraaj, and she could stretch to seven furlongs in the Moyglare Stud Stakes next month, a race Burke said would be her last of the season.

Quisiana, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard said, has struggled staying sound, and last year she was injured in her final work for the Prix Jean Romanet. This year, making her third start of the season after victories in her first two outings, she travelled like a winner from the start under Christophe Soumillon, who had a ton of horse while stalking the pace. Quisiana, by Le Havre out of Quamoclit by Sea the Stars, surged to the lead in mid-stretch and won by 1 3/4 lengths over Suvie, who had a nose on Grand Stars at the finish of the 1 1/4-mile Romanet. Heavily favored Cinderalla’s Dream checked in fourth with no obvious excuse, while Quisiana, all being well, is bound for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

In England, second choice Precise held off favored Moon Target winning the Group 3 Prestige Stakes for 2-year-old fillies by three-quarters of a length. Aidan O’Brien trains Precise, a daughter of Starspangledbanner and Way to My Heart, by Galileo. The seven-furlong Prestige is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series and Precise earned automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf as well as travel expensed to California.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.