Too Darn Hot back at his best distance in Prix Jean Prat

Too Darn Hot’s reputation as a leading colt in Europe has been damaged this year by three losses in major stakes at York and Royal Ascot in England and at The Curragh in Ireland.

For the first time on Sunday, Too Darn Hot will race in France, in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat for 3-year-old colts and fillies at seven furlongs at Deauville. The distance may be key in getting Too Darn Hot back to the winner’s circle for the first time since October.

Earlier this week, trainer John Gosden said Too Darn Hot was best suited to the Prix Jean Prat distance as opposed to his recent starts, when second in the Group 2 Dante Stakes at 1 5/16 miles at York on May 16, second in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas at a mile at The Curragh on May 26, and third in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at a mile at Royal Ascot on June 18.

Last year, Too Darn Hot won three seven-furlong races, including the Grade 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket in October to clinch the title as Europe’s champion 2-year-old male.

Too Darn Hot, owned by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, will be ridden by Frankie Dettori in the $448,720 Prix Jean Prat, which in recent years was run at a mile. The race is run on a straightaway course and drew a field of 12.

The Prix Jean Prat is the Group 1 debut of Space Blues, who was a game second in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Royal Ascot on June 22 for English trainer Charlie Appleby.

The top French hopes are Munitions and Grainges, the first two finishers in the Group 3 Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte in April. Grainges and Munitions were fourth and ninth in the Group 1 French 2000 Guineas at Longchamp on May 12 on heavy turf.

• Laccario, the winner of the Group 2 Union-Rennen in Cologne last month, will be favored to win Sunday’s Group 1 German Derby at 1 1/2 miles at Hamburg Racecourse.

Laccario is part of a field of 16 that includes Quest the Moon, who won the Group 3 Prix du Lys at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on May 26, and Django Freeman, a Group 3 stakes winner in Munich on May 1 who was second in the Union-Rennen.