Prix Jean Romanet could be preview of BC Filly and Mare Turf
Grand Glory posted a big upset Sunday at Deauville, nipping Audarya in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet and giving trainer Gianluca Bietolini the biggest win of his career.
Grand Glory came late and wide under Cristian Demuro and was just up in the 1 1/4-mile Romanet, run around a right-handed turn. Thundering Nights, who had an inside trip, finished third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by the top pair.
While Grand Glory never had run like this before and needs to validate this performance, the Romanet still has Breeders’ Cup implications, since both the second- and third-place finishers could be considered for the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar this fall. Audarya won the 2020 Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland, while Thundering Nights’s trainer, Joseph O’Brien, sent Iridessa to win the 2019 Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. Thundering Nights already has traveled to America this year, finishing a close second behind Mean Mary in the New York Stakes in early June.
Audarya was coming off a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood and now is on track to try and win the Prix de l’Opera for the second year in a row, with trainer James Fanshawe mentioning the Filly and Mare Turf as a subsequent goal if all goes well with the mare.
Sunday’s card at Deauville included the Group 1 Prix Morny for 2-year-olds, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race offering automatic fees-paid entry into the Juvenile Sprint and $40,000 in travel expenses to Del Mar. This straight-course six-furlong race was won in exciting fashion by Perfect Power, who was last or close to it with three furlongs to race before knifing between horses under Christophe Soumillon to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Trident.
Richard Fahey, who brought Ribchester to the BC Mile in 2017 at Del Mar, trains Perfect Power, who is bound for the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes over a straight six furlongs at Newmarket. Perfect Power, by Ardad, already has raced five times this year but is Breeders’ Cup-eligible.
Finally, Raabihah on Sunday was a comfortable winner of the Group 2 Prix de Pomone and now is on track to start in the Prix Vermeille in September and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October. The 4-year-old filly finished fifth in the 2020 Arc.