France: Whistlejacket, on quick turnaround, takes Prix Morny

Whistlejacket won the Group 1 Prix Morny on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse in France, and trainer Aidan O’Brien’s comments after the race suggested that connections are keen to capitalize on the benefits that accrue from winning a race in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.

Whistlejacket already has run eight times and raced Sunday just eight days after a second-place finish in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at The Curragh, but the colt from all appearances has thrived on his busy schedule. O’Brien said the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket stands as Whistlejacket’s immediate goal, followed by a run in a Breeders’ Cup race, presumably the Juvenile Turf Sprint and not the Juvenile. O’Brien repeatedly called Whistlejacket a “very fast horse,” suggesting speed over sprint trips will be his strong suit into the fall.

Whistlejacket campaigns for Coolmore connections as well as the American owner Peter Brant, whose silks he wore at Deauville, where Whistlejacket made most of the pace while racing along the stands’ side rail under Ryan Moore.

Rashabar, near the rear for the first half-mile of this straight six-furlong contest, made a strong run out in the middle of the course, perhaps even getting even with Whistlejacket before settling for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of the French colt Daylight. Rashabar did validate his 80-1 upset of the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, and his trainer, Brian Meehan, has in the past sent 2-year-olds to Breeders’ Cup races.

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Unlike Rashabar, Whistlejacket, by No Nay Never out of the Bering mare Adventure Seeking, was supposed to win at Royal Ascot, going off as the odds-on favorite in the Norfolk Stakes. Whistlejack finished sixth of 13 in the Norfolk, while that race's winner, Shareholder, brought up the rear Sunday in the nine-runner Morny.

Earlier on the card, Mqse De Sevigne was all-out to win the Group 1 Prix Romanet, prevailing by just a head as the 1-5 favorite.

For the second year in a row, 5-year-old Mqse De Sevigne pulled a grand Deauville double, landing the 1 1/4-mile Romanet after winning the Group 1 Prix Rothschild over one mile.

Five-year-old Mqse De Sevigne’s final start will come over a distance she’s never tried, 1 1/2 miles, in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – and she’ll need more than she showed Sunday to factor there.

Trained by Andre Fabre, Mqse De Sevigne has made a habit of scoring narrow victories in Group 1 races, and she won the 2023 Romanet by a nose. Sunday, the mare was held up in last, looming into contention at the head of the homestretch, but failing to put away competition that on paper she should have whipped.

Pacesetting American Sonja was coming back on Mqse De Sevigne in the closing strides, falling just short of catching her while edging Maxux for second. Both those horses are trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien, while fourth-place Blue Rose Cen, France’s best 3-year-old filly during 2023, finally ran a race approaching her baseline form from a year ago following three duds this season.

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