Soft ground should suit Mqse de Sevigne in Prix Rothschild
Mqse de Sevigne won her last two races, including the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan over males going 1 1/8 miles, and last August captured the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet going 1 1/4 miles. Even so, a Sunday cut-back to one mile in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild on Sunday at Deauville Racecourse won’t keep the mare from winning her third race in a row and fourth from her last five starts.
That assertion comes easily because Mqse de Sevigne won the 2023 Rothschild, if only by a head. The 5-year-old probably goes more effectively over a slightly longer trip, but Mqse de Sevigne has turned into a tigress the last two calendar years, and a course rated very soft as of Friday suits her preferences. Mqse de Sevigne, trained by Andre Fabre, has been freshened for a late-summer and fall campaign since capturing the Ispahan on soft ground at Longchamp. She won her Ispahan prep over turf rated very soft and was best at Deauville in the Romanet on ground with a similar degree of give.
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While Mqse De Sevigne hit a peak partway through her 4-year-old season and has maintained that level into her 5-year-old campaign, Blue Rose Cen has struggled mightily to find the form that made her a leading 2-year-old of 2022 and 3-year-old last year. A Group 1 winner at age 2, Blue Rose Cen in 2023 landed the French 1000 Guineas and the French Oaks before capping her campaign with a victory in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera. She comes into the Rothschild following a flat fifth in the Ispahan, her first start of the season, and a dull seventh in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes last month at Royal Ascot. Blue Rose Cen tries a distance as short as a mile for the first time since winning the Guineas more than 14 months ago.
Four-year-old filly Kelina races for the second time this season after ending her 3-year-old campaign with an upset of Kinross in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret and an uncompetitive ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. While she stands to improve upon a moderate comeback, Kelina probably prefers somewhat firmer footing and outside of the Foret never has been as good as Mqse de Sevigne.
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