Villa Marina could be Breeders' Cup bound off Prix de l'Opera upset

Villa Marina ran the race of her life to upset the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera on the Arc undercard Sunday at Longchamp, just holding off a late surge from the Coolmore filly, Fleeting.

The winner got home by just as head as Fleeting ran out of ground while finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Watch Me. Heavily favored Mehdaayih set the pace but was done a quarter-mile from the finish and faded to 10th, apparently struggling over very soft going.

The testing conditions might have helped Villa Marina, who was an 19-1, but winning trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias said what mattered more was a cutback in distance from 1 1/2 miles last month in the Prix Vermeille, where Villa Marina finished fourth, to 1 1/4 miles in Sunday’s race.

With that in mind, Laffon-Parias, who trains Villa Marina for her breeder, Sarl Darpat France, didn’t rule out a trip to Santa Anita for the 1 1/4-mile Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. The Opera was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race offering automatic fees-paid entry and travel expenses to California. Villa Marina, a 3-year-old filly by Le Havre out of Briviesca, by Peintre Celebre, is Breeders’ Cup-eligible. Briviesca won the Dowager Stakes at Keeneland for trainer Bill Mott in 2005.

Fleeting was a troubled fourth to Sistercharlie in the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington this past summer and might also be a Filly and Mare turf candidate for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

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Victor Ludorum, Albigna win G1 2-year-old stakes

A day after Maxfield won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and Alms captured the Grade 3 Matron Stakes at Belmont, yet another Godolphin 2-year-old, Victor Ludorum, landed the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Sunday at Longchamp.

Godolphin’s European wing also includes the 2-year-old sprinter-mile Earthlight, a Group 1 winner unbeaten in five starts, and Pinatubo, a 2-year-old sensation after two starts and a leading contender for the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.

Charlie Appleby trains Pinatubo while Andre Fabre handles Earthlight and Victor Ludorum, and of the latter Fabre said he had concerns regarding the very soft going Sunday at Longchamp. Victor Ludorum might not have loved the ground but he coped with it, staying on solidly to beat runner-up Alson by three-quarters of a length. Armory finished third, Ecrivain was fourth.

The Lagardere was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race linked to the BC Juvenile Turf but Fabre made no mention of considering a trip to Santa Anita.

Victor Ludorum is by Shamardal out of Antiquities, by Kaldounevees, and now has three wins from three starts.

Winning time for the one-mile Lagardere was a slow 1:44.15, while a race earlier the 2-year-old filly Albigna clocked 1:41.26 winning the one-mile Group 1 Prix Marcel-Boussac by 2 1/2 lengths overpace setting Marieta. Favored Savarin struggled home seventh.

Albigna, trained for the Niarchos family by Jessica Harrington, won her first two starts like a budding star and a disappointing loss in the Moyglare Stud stakes coincided with the filly coming into season. She bounced back smartly in Sunday’s test, latching onto the leader, Marieta, with a furlong-and-a-half left to race and pulling steadily clear. Shane Foley was aboard the winner, a daughter of Zoffany and Freedonia, by Selkirk.

The Boussac is a BC Challenge Win and You’re In linked to the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Harrington, citing the Niarchos’s love of Breeders’ Cup racing, didn’t rule out shipping for a start in that race, where Albigna would be formidable.