Elusive Kate defended her title and won the fourth Group 1 race of her career with a relatively easy victory in Sunday’s $396,000 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, France.
Ridden by William Buick, Elusive Kate (9-5) disputed the early lead with 25-1 Chigun, took a clear lead with a quarter-mile remaining, and was not seriously challenged, pulling away in the final sixteenth to win the one-mile race by 2 1/2 lengths.
Novellist set a course record for 1 1/2 miles at Ascot with a career-defining win in Saturday’s $1,629,450 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
The Group 1 win gave Novellist an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita in November through the Win and You’re program, although trainer Andreas Wohler said after the race that Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 7 is the main goal for the autumn.
Elusive Kate is a Group 1 winner in England, having won the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket on July 12, but her best results have come in journeys to France.
A 4-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Elusive Quality, Elusive Kate has won four stakes in France in the last two years.
In an accomplished career that includes 13 stakes wins in 46 starts, Cirrus des Aigles can be forgiven for throwing in an occasional clunker.
When the 7-year-old Cirrus des Aigles finished fifth in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in Paris on June 23, his first start of 2013, his trainer, Corine Barande-Barbe quickly forgave the loss. It seemed that Cirrus des Aigles was a little chubby.
“He had a little bit of a belly a month ago, but it’s gone now and he is probably more muscular compared to previous years,” Barande-Barbe said earlier this month in a press release.
Nymphea, ridden by 18-year-old amateur jockey Dennis Schiergen for his father, trainer Peter Schiergen, led throughout Sunday’s Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.
Fillies and mares swept the first two positions in the race over 1 1/2 miles.
Nymphea (3-1) led by as many as 15 lengths and won by three lengths with little pressure late. Temida finished second, 1 1/2 lengths in of front of Meandre, the 9-5 favorite who won the 2012 Gross Preis Von Berlin.
Chicquita, who fell when leading an allowance race in May and later finished second in the French Oaks on June 16, won Saturday’s $524,000 Irish Oaks at The Curragh, her first career win in her fourth start.
Ridden by Johnny Murtagh, Chicquita (9-2) finished a half-length in front of 6-1 Venus de Milo in the Group 1 race for 3-year-old fillies, despite drifting across the track in the final furlong. The incident was the subject of a stewards’ inquiry, but there was no change to the order of finish.
Meandre, sixth in the Dubai World Cup behind Animal Kingdom in March, faces a stern test in an attempt to defend his title in Sunday’s Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.
Meandre was trained by Andre Fabre when he won the 2012 Grosser Preis Von Berlin. He has since been transferred to trainer Doug Watson after being acquired in the spring by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic in southeast Europe.
Four-year-old Lethal Force won only once in his first nine starts during 2011 and 2012, but he has figured things out now. Winning his second straight Group 1 on Saturday, Lethal Force staked a claim as Europe’s best sprinter with a front-running, 1 1/2-length victory in the $815,000 July Cup at Newmarket in England.
Elusive Kate won Friday’s Group 1 Falmouth Stakes for fillies and mares at Newmarket, England, a result that was not confirmed until a stewards’ inquiry reviewed whether the winner bothered 4-7 favorite Sky Lantern in the final quarter-mile.
Elusive Kate (3-1) set the pace under jockey William Buick, but began to drift to her left in the final furlong, forcing jockey Richard Hughes and Sky Lantern across the track. Buick even struck Sky Lantern twice with his whip.