Waldgeist eyes first Group 1 win at Saint-Cloud

Waldgeist, at 4, is becoming a specialist in races at 1 1/2 miles on turf.

After winning a Group 3 race in May and a Group 2 race in June at that distance, Waldgeist can win a Group 1 for the first time at 1 1/2 miles in Sunday’s $467,160 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in Paris.

Waldgeist was the 5-2 favorite as of Friday in a competitive field of eight in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Trained by Andre Fabre, Waldgeist won the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud at 1 1/4 miles as a 2-year-old in October 2016, but was winless in five starts last year in France, England, Ireland, and Germany, including a second in the French Derby.

Owned by Gestut Ammerland and Newsells Park, Waldgeist, by Galileo, has won 4 of 11 starts. Regular rider Pierre-Charles Boudot will ride Waldgeist in Sunday’s race.

Waldgeist’s primary rivals are Bateel, Cloth of Stars and Coronet.

Bateel, a 6-year-old mare, won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille at Chantilly last September. She won her only start this year in the Group 2 Prix Corrida at 1 5/16 miles at Saint-Cloud on May 21.

Cloth of Stars was second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at 1 1/2 miles at Chantilly last October, but is winless in four starts this year for Fabre. Cloth of Stars was third in two Group 1 races earlier this year – the Sheema Classic in Dubai and Prix Ganay at Longchamp in Paris - but only sixth behind Waldgeist as the 11-10 favorite in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly on June 3.

Coronet, a 4-year-old filly trained in England by John Gosden, is a multiple stakes winner who won the Group 2 Musidora Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles at York in May in her only start this year.

Sunday’s Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes for fillies and mares at The Curragh in Ireland appears to be a more lopsided race. Forever Together, the winner of the English Oaks on June 1, was the odds-on favorite on Friday to beat five rivals.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Forever Together won for the first time in her fourth career start in the English Oaks at 1 1/2 miles. The $291,975 Pretty Polly Stakes is run at 1 1/4 miles. Ryan Moore will ride Forever Together for the Coolmore partnership.

O’Brien trains half the field. He starts Bye Bye Baby, who was third in the English Oaks. The best chance from a non-O’Brien runner is Urban Fox, who was fourth in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile at Royal Ascot in England on June 20. William Haggas trains Urban Fox.

Mercant Navy retired

Merchant Navy, the winner of the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at six furlongs at Royal Ascot on June 23, has been retired and will begin a stud career in Australia in a few months.

Merchant Navy, who joined Aidan O’Brien’s stable in Ireland in April, won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, last November and won his debut in Ireland in the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at The Curragh on May 26.

Merchant Navy, a 4-year-old colt in the Northern Hemisphere, is owned by the Coolmore syndicate of Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor, and Susan Magnier and the Merchant Navy syndicate. The Diamond Jubilee was Merchant Navy’s fourth stakes win.

The Australian-bred colt was foaled in November 2014, making him essentially a late-season 3-year-old by the Southern Hemisphere calendar.

Merchant Navy, by Fastnet Rock, will stand at Coolmore Australia in New South Wales.