Christophe Soumillon rode the winners of all three group races Sunday at Maisons-Laffitte where Valixir's victory in the Prix Messidor set him up perfectly for a much anticipated clash with Divine Proportions and Dubawi in Deauville's Prix Jacques le Marois on August 14.
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DRF Past Performances
Goodwood opens its prestigious five-day "Glorious" meeting on Tuesday with one Group 2 and and two Group 3 races on the card.
Autumn Glory and Court Masterpeice, the first two home in the Group 3 Silver Trophy at one mile at Lingfield Park on July 9, are expected to duke it out in the Group 2 Lennox Stakes at seven furlongs. The Ed Dunlop-trained Court Masterpiece is taken to turn the tables, as he is a two-time listed winner at Goodwood, albeit going a mile.
Azamour defied his critics by not only staying the full 1 1/2 miles of the $1.24 million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes on Saturday, but also breaking the 54-year-old Newbury track record for the distance while providing Michael Kinane with his fifth winning ride in England's most important middle-distance event.
Valixir will make an unconventional drop-down at Maisons-Laffitte on Sunday in the Group 3 Prix Messidor, a $91,000 one-mile race in which he must spot five rivals eight to 16 pounds after his Group 1 victory in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 14.
Trainer Andre Fabre feels that Valixir needs a race before tackling Divine Proportions and Dubawi in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Aug. 14. So Valixir, who beat Rakti in the Queen Anne, will go in this lesser event. He will be tested by recent Group 3 runner-up Special Kaldoun and listed winner Nid d'Abeilles.
Cesario, the brilliant four-length winner of the American Oaks at Hollywood Park on July 3, will be sidelined for three months after having suffered an inflamed ligament to her right foreleg in Japan, the Japan Racing Association announced on Friday in an Associated Press report.
England's midsummer centerpiece, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, may have seen better fields in its 55-year history than the one that will line up at Newbury on Saturday, but rarely has it had one as closely matched, or one with so many questions hanging over the heads of its participants.
Touch of Land may have booked his passage for a second try in the Arlington Million with his victory Wednesday in the Group 3, $90,000 Grand Prix de Vichy at Vichy Racecourse in France.
Trained by Henri-Alex Pantall and ridden by Christophe Lemaire, Touch of Land, a 5-year-old son of Lando, defeated Apsis by two lengths, getting the 1 1/4 miles on good to soft ground in 2:03.80.
Shawanda produced a devastating turn of foot for a handy five-length triumph over Playful Act in the $480,000 Irish Oaks at The Curragh on Sunday.
Shawanda's rider, Christophe Soumillon, put the filly on cruise control on the lead a quarter-mile from home. He pronounced the win "my easiest Group 1 victory."
Bred and owned by the Aga Khan and trained in France by Alain de Royer-Dupre, Shawanda got the 1 1/2 miles on good to firm ground in a quick 2:27.10.
Shawanda romped to victory in the $480,000 Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Sunday, producing a devastating turn of foot for a handy 5-length triumph over Playful Act.
Her rider Christophe Soumillon, who was on cruise control as he put the Sinndar filly on the lead a quarter mile from home, pronounced it "my easiest Group 1 victory." Bred and owned by the Aga Khan and trained in France by Alain de Royer-Dupre, Shawanda got the 1 1/2 miles on good to firm ground in a quick 2:27.10.