Pinatubo bounces back in Prix Jean Prat

Pinatubo might not be a great horse, but he is a very good horse and showed it Sunday at Deauville, winning the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat by three-quarters of a length over Lope Y Fernandez.

Pinatubo, trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin, tore through an undefeated 2-year-old season that included two absolute romps in stakes races, a win in the Group 1 Dewhurst, and year-end feting as the best juvenile in Europe. Two-year-old domination gave way to 3-year-old defeat; though he ran well in both races, Pinatubo was third-best in the English 2000 Guineas and second-best in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Both those races came over one mile and a cut back to a straight seven furlongs Sunday suited Pinatubo, who waited in midpack before charging through the field halfway through, closing hard on the leaders a quarter-mile out, getting his nose in front with a little less than a furlong to run, and pushing home stoutly to fend off Lope Y Fernandez. The runner-up, a 40-1 shot, was coming off a poor performance in the Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs but had finished a good third in Siskin’s Irish 2000 Guineas earlier in the summer.

The top two were well clear of the other nine, with longshot Malotru edging Wooded for third. Andre Fabre’s pair of Alson and Tropbeau raced especially flat, coming home 10th and 11th, respectively.

William Buick rode Pinatubo, a son of Shamardal and Lava Flow, by Dalakhani. Appleby said he’d be in no hurry to rush Pinatubo back into action following three races in fairly rapid succession and doused the chance of a matchup with Siskin in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

* At Hamburg, French invader In Swoop upset the Group 1 Deutsches Derby, winning by three-quarters of a length over an even longer price, Torquator Tasso. Favored Wonderful Moon never threatened and finished sixth in this 1 1/2-mile race contested on soft ground. Francis-Henri Graffard trains the winner, who was ridden to victory by Ronan Thomas. In Swoop is by Adlerflug out of Iota, by Tiger Hill.