Watch Me takes on older males in Marois

Watch Me, the 20-1 surprise winner of the Group 1 Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Royal Ascot in June, will face older males for the first time in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at a mile at Deauville, France.

Watch Me is expected to be favored in a field of eight. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. Last year, the 3-year-old filly Alpha Centauri won the Prix Jacques le Marois as an odds-on favorite.

Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, Watch Me won her first group stakes in the Coronation Stakes at a mile, stalking the pace before winning by 1 1/2 lengths over Hermosa. Pierre-Charles Boudot rode Watch Me in the Coronation Stakes and has the mount in the $1.12 million Prix Jacques le Marois.

Romanised and Shaman, who were beaten at Royal Ascot, are Watch Me’s chief rivals.

Romanised, 4, was fourth in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at a mile at Royal Ascot on June 18 at 25-1, but rebounded to win the Group 2 Minstrel Stakes at seven furlongs at the Curragh in Ireland on July 20. Romanised won the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas in 2018 and was later fifth behind Alpha Centauri in the Prix Jacques le Marois.

Shaman was fifth in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes for 3-year-old colts at a mile at Royal Ascot on June 18. He was second in the French 2000 Guineas at Longchamp Racecourse in May.