Taareef takes a three-race winning streak into Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois for turf milers at Deauville Racecourse in France on Sunday.
His leading rival is a familiar foe - Al Wukair, a 3-year-old colt who was second to Taareef in the Group 3 Prix Messidor at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse outside of Paris last month.
They are the two leading runners in a field of six in Sunday’s $827,960 race, which is formally known as Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le Buffard Jacques le Marois.
Brando won his first start outside of Great Britain, and his first Group 1, in Sunday’s $449,500 Prix Maurice de Gheest for sprinters at Deauville, France.
Bound for Nowhere, the Kentucky-based colt trained by Wesley Ward, finished 10th of 13 after racing near the front for the first half of the race at 6 1/2 furlongs on a straightaway turf course. Bound for Nowhere was a winner at Turfway Park and Keeneland earlier this year and fourth in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June.
Bound for Nowhere had a rude introduction to European racing at Royal Ascot in June, finishing a troubled fourth in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-old sprinters.
Following that race, Bound for Nowhere was sent back to trainer Wesley Ward’s Kentucky base. He worked so well in July that Ward put the colt back on a plane for France last week, targeting Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf at Deauville Racecourse.
We shall see about the fall, but the spring and summer have revealed the 3-year-old filly Winter to be exceptional.
On Thursday at Goodwood, Winter won her fourth Group 1 race in a row, capturing the Nassau Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over Blonde Me. The Nassau followed Group 1 wins in the English and Irish 1000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, and at just a few yards short of 1 1/4 miles, it was about a quarter-mile farther than Winter ever had raced.
Heavy rain Wednesday at Goodwood Racecourse in England turned the ground to mush. An hour before the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, the connections of star 3-year-old Churchill bowed out, but odds-on favorite Ribchester stayed in, and then went down to defeat, beaten by the unheralded 7-year-old Here Comes When.
Stradivarius, who won the Group 2 Queen’s Vase Stakes at Royal Ascot in June in his stakes debut, scored an upset in Tuesday’s Group 1, $686,800 Goodwood Cup at Goodwood Racecourse, finishing 1 3/4 lengths in front of 3-2 favorite Big Orange.
Big Orange won the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and won the Goodwood Cup in 2015 and 2016.
Stradivarius gave trainer John Gosden his second Group 1 win in four days. Saturday, the Gosden-trained Enable won the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
The 3-year-old filly Winter hasn’t raced in more than five weeks, but during her downtime, her stock has gone up, and she figures to be a solid favorite Thursday at Goodwood, where Winter meets older rivals for the first time while stretching out to 1 1/4 miles in the Group 1, $449,000 Nassau Stakes.
On a level playing field, Churchill would have scant chance to beat Ribchester on Wednesday at Goodwood Racecourse in the Group 1, $739,000 Sussex Stakes.
Ribchester, a fairly fully grown 4-year-old, is a horse at the height of his powers, the best miler in Europe right now. Churchill is a 3-year-old, lacking Ribchester’s maturity, who in his most recent start could only finish fourth against rivals his own age.
But by design, the playing field is not level.
Big Orange was part of the most thrilling finish of the Royal Ascot meeting in June, winning the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup at 2 1/2 miles by a nose.
The popular 6-year-old gelding will start as a heavy favorite Tuesday in another marathon turf race, the Group 1 Goodwood Cup at two miles. The $686,866 Goodwood Cup is the top race on the first of five consecutive days of the Glorious Goodwood meeting.
Later in the week, Ribchester, the winner of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, will be favored in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes for milers.
