Dutch Connection, fifth in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland last October, can win his second stakes in less than two weeks in Sunday’s $421,600 Prix Maurice de Gheest for sprinters at Deauville, France.
The Prix Maurice de Gheest is one of three Group 1 races in Europe on Sunday.
Qemah won her second consecutive Group 1 race, and first against older fillies and mares, in Sunday’s $334,800 Prix Rothschild at Deauville Racecourse in northwest France.
The win gave trainer Jean Claude-Rouget his fifth Group 1 race with a 3-year-old filly since mid-May. Qemah won the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. The stable’s La Cressonniere won the French 1000 Guineas and French Oaks in May and June. Jemayel won the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary in France in May and was third in Saturday’s Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse in England.
Qemah has been part of a spectacular spring and early summer for French trainer Jean Claude-Rouget with 3-year-old fillies.
Qemah won the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot last month. The stable’s La Cressonniere won the French 1000 Guineas and French Oaks in May and June.
Coolmore, trainer Aidan O’Brien, and jockey Ryan Moore won the first Group 1 of the Glorious Goodwood meeting when The Gurkha took down the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday, and the trio will be expected to win the only other Group 1 on the Goodwood menu this week, the Nassau on Saturday, with the filly Minding.
Goldream, a winner of Group 1 sprints in England and France in 2015, will have his first start since March in Friday’s $409,850 King George Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Goodwood Racecourse, a competitive race that drew 17 runners.
The Group 2 King George Stakes lacks a clear favorite. As of Wednesday, Marsha, Easton Angel, and Muthmir, the first three finishers of the City Walls Stakes at five furlongs on turf at York Racecourse on July 9, and Goldream were listed at 6-1 or 7-1 with British bookmakers.
The Gurkha turned the tables on Galileo Gold on Wednesday at Goodwood Racecourse, beating him by a neck in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes after Galileo Gold had defeated The Gurkha in the St. James’s Palace Stakes last month at Royal Ascot.
A 3-year-old has beaten his older rivals in the Sussex Stakes in six of the last eight years, and the two older horses to win the race during that span, Frankel and Solow, were historically great milers. The horses ages 4 and up in Wednesday’s edition of the Group 1 mile at Goodwood in England have no such quality, which is why the Sussex is widely viewed as a showdown among a trio of 3-year-olds – Galileo Gold, The Gurkha, and Awtaad.
Highland Reel had won a major race in North America, the Grade 1 Secretariat, and in Asia, where he captured the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase, and on Saturday he took down one of the most prestigious prizes in Europe when leading all the way under Ryan Moore in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
Highland Reel gave Aidan O’Brien his fourth King George win and earned an automatic fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In program, a berth he is likely to accept if all goes well through season’s end.
The Royal Ascot winner Prince of Lir will have his French debut in Sunday’s $142,500 Prix Robert Papin for 2-year-old colts and fillies at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse.
The Group 2 Prix Robert Papin at 5 1/2 furlongs drew a field of six that includes several accomplished runners.
The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday at Ascot was supposed to mark the next appearance by the mighty Postponed. But with Postponed laid low this week by an upper-respiratory infection, the 1 1/2-mile summer fixture could come down to Dartmouth and Highland Reel, a pair of 4-year-olds separated by a head last month when Dartmouth won the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.