Odeliz wins first Group 1 in Prix Jean Romanet

The 5-year-old mare Odeliz found herself in an unfamiliar spot leading Sunday in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville, and then she found herself in a place she’d never been before at all – the winner’s enclosure following a Group 1 race.

A 35-1 shot with English bookmakers, the England-based mare sprang a major surprise Sunday, traveling comfortably over very soft going that surely took several of her opponents out of their game and turning back a stern late-stretch challenge from Bawina, who might have poked her head in front before Odeliz pushed back.

Trained by Karl Burke for Aleyrion Bloodstock, Odeliz, who has stalked and closed in many of her races, wound up leading by default Sunday under jockey Adrie de Vries. She faced no real challenge for the first mile of the 1 1/4-mile Romanet, and even as her rivals fanned out behind her with a quarter-mile to run, Odeliz stayed on solidly. Bawina, coming up the far side, was the only one really gaining, and the winner saw her off by a neck as a late wide run from Avenir Certain sputtered slightly the final half-furlong, the tepid favorite checking in third, three parts of a length out of second. George Strawbridge’s filly We Are plugged along and got fourth in an 11-horse field.

The ground Sunday at Deauville was termed “very soft,” and the Romanet’s glacial final time of 2:14.77 reflected that. Odeliz, a daughter of Falco, won for the fifth time in 21 starts. She was second last year in the E.P. Taylor at Woodbine, and connections indicated a return trip to that race might be on her agenda.

The testing conditions Sunday did nothing to help Shalaa in the card’s second Group 1, the Prix Morny for 2-year-olds over a straight six furlongs, but the well-regarded colt won anyway, pulling away from the pace-setting Gutaifan to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Al Shaqab Racing owns the first two home; John Gosden trains Shalaa, while Richard Hannon Jr. trains Gutaifan.

Shalaa finished eighth in his debut in May but since had won three straight races, the last two in group stakes competition, and he was heavily favored in the Morny. Dettori got him back just off Gutaifan’s pace, and when asked for run in the final quarter-mile, Shalaa quickly asserted his superiority. By Invincible Spirit, Shalaa will be pointed for the Middle Park Stakes to finish out his 2-year-old season, and Gosden apparently views the colt mainly as a sprinter, with his early-season 3-year-old goal the six-furlong Commonwealth Stakes rather than the one-mile English 2000 Guineas.