Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Group 1)

SAINT-Cloud staged its biggest meeting of the year last Sunday with the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud at its centrepiece, but the fixture turned into a ‘Grand Prix des Anglais’ with English visitors landing all four of the afternoon’s stakes races.

The British annexation of the feature was hardly surprising, given that cross channel challengers accounted for five of the seven runners. No one, with the possible exception of Carlos Laffon-Parias, trainer of the runner-up Ziyad, could begrudge the victory of Coronet, given that she was finally breaking her top level duck after 10 previous Group 1 starts which had included four second places.

The most agonising of those near-misses had come in this very contest 12 months earlier, so it was understandable that her trainer, John Gosden, was feeling a terrible sense of déjà vu as his Dubawi mare got involved in a late tussle with the front-running Ziyad.

This time it ended well for the Newmarket handler, Coronet prevailing by a short-neck. Indeed, he was almost celebrating the perfect result, as his other runner, Lah Ti Dar, failed by only a short-head to complete a famous one-two, the front three pulling three and a half lengths clear of two more Brits, Aspetar and Marmelo.

With no obvious front-runner in the field, Maxime Guyon, still clinging on at the top of the French Jockeys Championship as he is hunted down by Pierre-Charles Boudot, set an undemanding pace aboard Ziyad and was almost rewarded for his enterprise when kicking for home rounding the final turn.

Lah Ti Dar was the opponent best-placed to counter this move and for a brief moment it seemed that the stalking Coronet might be denied a clear run. Then Ziyad edged right, Coronet was able to challenge against the inside rail and, under maximum pressure from Frankie Dettori (who picked up a small fine for exceeding by two the whip strikes limit of five), she got up to score by a short-neck.

“We’ve long had this race in mind for Coronet and she really deserved a Group 1,” Gosden said. “She works with Lah Ti Dar and there is very little between them, but I think Lah Ti Dar didn’t quite let herself down on the fast ground.

“The Prix de Royallieu has just been upgraded to a Group 1 so that could be a nice race for them both in the autumn, though they could take in the Yorkshire Oaks beforehand.”

Dettori had faced a tricky choice of which of the two to ride – he had partnered Lah Ti Dar on all seven of her previous outings whereas he had been aboard Coronet for just eight of her 15 starts. He explained: “I went for Coronet as this race has been the plan for her all along, whereas Lah Ti Dar was meant to run last weekend in the Hardwicke Stakes.”