Snow Fairy won the sixth Group 1 race of her career in Sunday’s Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville, France, a victory that trainer Ed Dunlop described as “one of the biggest highlights of my career.”
The Prix Jean Romanet was Snow Fairy’s first start since the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in Japan last November. Snow Fairy was in Hong Kong training for a start in the Hong Kong Vase last December when she sustained an injury.
Lethal Force, a 25-1 outsider, led throughout Saturday’s Group 2 Hungerford Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, holding off a late threat from top contender Strong Suit in the seven-furlong race.
Ridden by Adam Kirby, Lethal Force led by as many as five lengths in the straightaway race and was fully extended to win by a neck over Strong Suit, the 9-4 second choice in the field of nine. Alanza, a 9-1 chance, finished third. Soul, the 2-1 favorite, was sixth after racing as close as second with a quarter-mile remaining.
The return of five-time Group 1 winner Snow Fairy highlights the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet on Sunday at Deauville in France, but Snow Fairy has found a difficult spot to make her first start since last November.
Five-year-old Snow Fairy finished third in the 2011 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before embarking on her second trip to Asia for late-season racing. She won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Kyoto in Japan on Nov. 13 but was injured during a training session days before she was to start in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin.
Strong Suit, a multiple group stakes winner in 2011 but winless in two starts this year, will be favored to win Saturday’s Group 2 Hungerford Stakes over seven furlongs on turf at Newbury, England.
Trained by Richard Hannon, Strong Suit, a 4-year-old Arkansas-bred colt by Rahy, was eighth of 12 in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket on July 11, a race run on a heavy turf course. The turf course is projected to be good at Newbury on Saturday.
Even when Frankel doesn’t participate in a Group 1 one-mile race in Europe, his long shadow falls across the proceedings. Such was the case Sunday at Deauville in France, where Excelebration won a strong renewal of the Group 1 Jacques Le Marois by 1 1/4 lengths over Cityscape.
Excelebration has gotten away from Frankel but appears to be stepping into a hornet’s nest when he ships from Ireland to the French coast to start in the Group 1 Jacques Le Marois on Sunday at Deauville.
Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Excelebration has won six of his 12 career starts, and five of his six losses have come at the hands of fellow 4-year-old Frankel. Excelebration won his seasonal debut at The Curragh in April, but then ran into Frankel in the J.T. Lockinge Stakes and the Queen Anne Stakes, finishing second by five lengths in the former and second by 11 in the latter.
The undefeated Australian mare Black Caviar’s reputation was dinged when she squeaked out a win in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, but that slim victory took on a rosier appearance when the Diamond Jubilee runner-up Moonlight Cloud crushed eight foes in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest on Sunday at Deauville.
The Fugue, considered trainer John Gosden’s second string entry, pulled a slight upset in Saturday’s Group 1 Nassau Stakes for fillies and mares at Goodwood Racecourse in England.
The Fugue, a troubled third in the English Oaks in June, closed from seventh in a field of eight in the final furlong to win by a length over pacesetter Timepiece. Was, the winner of the English Oaks, finished third. The race was run over 1 1/4 miles on a turf course rated good.
Izzi Top and The Fugue, trainer John Gosden’s top fillies of the summer, meet for the first time in Saturday’s Group 1 Nassau Stakes for fillies and mares at Goodwood Racecourse in southern England.
Izzi Top, a 4-year-old filly by Pivotal, has won her last four starts, all in stakes in three countries – France, England and Ireland. She won the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in Ireland on July 1, and will be favored in the Nassau, run over about 1 1/4 miles.
Pick your laudatory adjective – breathtaking, awesome, dominating – and simply type it into the blank space in front of the name of the racehorse, Frankel. The ecstatic roar of praise for Frankel has become nearly as rote as his wins, the latest of which came Wednesday at Goodwood, where, it could be said, Frankel turned in another breathtaking performance, scoring an awesome six-length win in yet another dominant Group 1 triumph, this in the Sussex Stakes.