PARIS – All American eyes will be on Goldikova in the $313,000 Prix de la Foret, one of six Group 1 races on the Arc undercard at Longchamp on Sunday. But her trainer, Freddy Head, has warned that if the ground becomes too soft as a result of the rain expected to fall on Friday night and Saturday on a course already deemed soft, he will have no choice but to withdraw his 5-year-old mare and send her instead directly to Churchill Downs in search of her third Breeder’s Cup Mile crown.
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Makfi handed Goldikova a shocking defeat at Deauville on Sunday as he beat the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner by 2 1/2 lengths in the Group 1, $769,000 Prix Jacques Le Marois.
Goldikova led approaching the three-sixteenths pole in the straight mile but couldn’t resist the late charge of Makfi. Paco Boy led briefly at the eighth-pole, but Goldikova got back up for second by a neck. The winning time was 1:39.40, compared to the 1:33.50 recorded by Goldikova when winning last year’s renewal by sixlengths on good ground.
Goldikova goes in search of what would be a modern European record of 11 Group or Grade 1 triumphs on Sunday, when she renews rivalry with Paco Boy in the $769,000 Prix Jacques Le Marois going a mile at Deauville. Victory would be her 11th at the highest level and would break the mark she currently shares with Miesque, who, like Goldikova, is a two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
The Jacques Le Marois is a Win and You’re In race, giving the winner a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Goldikova easily captured the $392,000 Prix Rothschild at Deuville for the third time on Sunday, her record-tying 10th triumph in a Group 1 event.
The 5-year-old Goldikova, ridden by Olivier Peslier for trainer Freddie Head, and the great Miesque are the only European-trained horses to have won 10 times at the highest grade since the introduction of the classification structure in the 1970s.
Only Green was in her familiar role of setting the pace for her Wertheimer Brothers stablemate, as Peslier had Goldikova settled just off the pace.