French Oaks distance more of a fit for Mandanaba
When France’s leading trainer, Francis-Henri Graffard, ran Mandanaba in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, surely he hoped to win France’s 1000 Guineas. But the Pouliches also served as a means to an end, and that end comes Sunday at Chantilly in the Prix de Diane.
The Prix de Diane, France’s Oaks, is contested over 1 5/16 miles over a course rated soft as of Friday. Mandanaba scored a six-length debut win last summer at Chantilly racing 1 3/16 miles and didn’t start again until April 6, when she came out of hibernation to capture the nine-furlong Prix Vanteaux, beating a decent field at Longchamp. In the Pouliches, Mandanaba, who runs with pace, tracked the leaders and came to the furlong grounds with a chance to win, but was out-quicked to the wire, finishing an encouraging third.
Mandanaba is by Ghaiyyath, a 1 1/2-mile horse during his racing days, and out of Mandesha, who excelled between 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 miles. Mandanaba is no miler, and the one-mile Pouliches simply was too short for her. The Prix de Diane is a far better fit, and Mandanaba should be formidable Sunday under Mickael Barzalona.
A dozen fillies went into the Diane, and Graffard trains two others, Gezora and Cankoura. Barzalona, for what it’s worth, rode both to last-start victories.
Cankoura has made steady progress through a three-start campaign but needs another leap to contend, and Gezora rates higher. Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm bought the filly last fall after a Group 3 win over seriously heavy going at Chantilly, but Gezora has looked equally comfortable on firmer footing this season. Fourth behind Mandanaba in a race she clearly needed, Gezora finished with purpose May 11 to land the Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary, and while she beat just three rivals, the second and third fillies have talent.
She’s Perfect tries the Oaks after taking a tough disqualification in the Pouliches, where she crossed the wire first but was placed second for coming out a half-furlong from the finish and pushing Exactly into Zarigana, beaten a nose in the end. Zarigana’s connections passed the Diane, wondering if their horse wanted to run this far, a fair question to ask of She’s Perfect, who could prove more miler than middle-distance. She’s out of an unraced Galileo mare but is by the sprinter Sioux Nation.
Trainer Andre Fabre, a four-time Diane winner, runs Pouliches fifth-place finisher Better Together, a Juddmonte homebred by sprinter-miler Oasis Dream who’s no sure thing to improve going 2 1/2 furlongs farther than her longest race.
Aidan O’Brien starts Bedtime Story and Merrily, respectively sixth and 13th in the Pouliches. Bedtime Story, the mount of top stable jockey Ryan Moore, was highly regarded at age 2 but hasn’t finished better than fifth in three Group 1s.
Mandanaba hasn’t finished worse than third. Her lone defeat came at the wrong distance. She can provide Graffard with his second Prix de Diane.
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