Pearl Sky heads Harcourt at Longchamp

Pearl Sky will once again have the quagmire she loves Sunday at Longchamp as she goes after her fourth consecutive victory on heavy ground in the Group 2, $173,000 Prix d'Harcourt.

A 4-year-old Kahyasi filly trained by Yves de Nicolay, Pearl Sky slammed four of her Harcourt rivals by more than five lengths over the same 1 1/4-mile distance in the Group 3 Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud on March 10. Elasos, Runaway, Boris de Deauville, and Blushing King will all try her again, but should all be chasing her home again on Sunday.

Pearl Sky also had Group 1 winner Montare and Group 2 winners Bellamy Cay and Freedonia behind her in the Exbury, but they have all declined the honor of facing her again on her preferred ground. She will be ridden by Anthony Crastus.

Two new challengers with proven form on soft ground could offer a more serious threat. Irish Wells is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but is best judged on his win in the 1 9/16-mile Grand Prix de Deauville on very soft turf. Doctor Dino has a soft-ground victory in the Group 3 Andre Baboin, but is facing tougher here.

The classy Soldier Hollow, trained in Germany by Peter Schiergen, won the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp on Sept. 30, but that came on good ground. He did win the 2005 Group 1 Premio Roma in heavy going and could upset Pearl Sky if he and rider Olivier Peslier can pull that form out of the bag.