Treve looks to atone for first loss in Prince of Wales’s

Alarm bells over deserted racecourses and disappearing French racing fans sound steadily these days. Ironically, the French racehorse is in full flower.

Two French horses, Miss France in the 1000 Guineas and Cirrus des Aigles in the Coronation Cup, already have raided England for Group 1 wins this year, and Treve will be widely expected to make it three Wednesday when she starts in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the feature on the second day of the Royal Ascot meeting.

Treve, a rousing five-length winner last fall in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, is one of eight horses, three female, entered in the 1 1/4-mile Prince of Wales’s, and though her cloak of invincibility dropped when she suffered her first career loss April 27 at Longchamp, Treve stands an excellent chance of starting a new streak Wednesday.

Owned by Al Shaqab Racing and trained by Criquette Head-Maarek, Treve took a narrow loss, her first in six starts, when she was beaten a neck by Cirrus des Aigles in the April 27 Prix Ganay. There was no shame in defeat. Cirrus des Aigles is one of the best 10-to-12-furlong horses worldwide, and he held a fitness edge over Treve in the Ganay, having already started twice this year.

Treve captured two other Group 1 races last year, the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and the Prix Vermeille, and she has won at three different courses over ground ranging from soft to good, with the Ascot course projected to be good for Wednesday’s card. The Prince of Wales’s, won by France-based horses in 2009 and 2010, marks Treve’s first start outside France and will be just her third start under Frankie Dettori, Al Shaqab’s stable rider. If Treve is ready for something close to her best, as Head-Maarek expects, she will win.

Magician, The Fugue, and Dank all are familiar to American racing fans. Magician and The Fugue finished one-two in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Turf, and The Fugue was third in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, a race won last fall by Dank, who captured the Beverly D. in August.

Dank and The Fugue make their first start since the March 29 Dubai Duty Free, where Dank finished third and The Fugue 11th, while Magician exits a second-place finish May 25 in the Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland. The other entrant of note is Mukhadram, most recently second in the Dubai World Cup.

The Prince of Wales’s, post time scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Eastern, is the third of six races on a Wednesday card starting at 9:30 Eastern. The second race on the card is the Queen Mary for 2-year-old fillies, a race that U.S. trainer Wesley Ward will try to win for the second time with Spanish Pipedream, a sharp Keeneland debut winner who is one of the favorites in a 22-horse field.

Also on the card is the Duke of Cambridge, which features the seasonal debut of Sky Lantern, who was last of 14 in the Dec. 8 Hong Kong Mile after winning three Group 1 races in England earlier in the year.