THE French kept both Group 3 races at home last Tuesday at Maisons-Laffitte where Dame Du Roi landed the Prix Miesque before The Right Man swooped late to capture the Prix de Seine-et-Oise. They both passed the post with something in hand and justified their position as favourites.

Trained by Freddy Head and ridden by Aurelien Lemaitre, Dame Du Roi responded well to the urgings of her jockey inside the final furlong where the daughter of Dark Angel took command before winning by an easy length from Kambura and Thais.

Charlie Fellowes sent Moonlit Show over from Newmarket but she could only manage sixth place after taking the field along until the furlong marker.

Dame Du Roi appears to adore this track where she is unbeaten in three races. Lemaitre was winning his fourth Group 3 race of the season for Head and has so far clocked up 58 victories.

It is pretty certain that Dame Du Roi will be back at the same venue in April for the Prix Imprudence as a trial before either the English or French 1000 Guineas with the latter being more likely as she qualifies for generous owners’ and breeders’ premiums.

The RIGHT MAN

Francois-Xavier Bertras rode an extremely confident race on The Right Man in the Seine-Et-Oise. The pair were virtually last with a furlong left to run before cutting down the field in style. Two lengths was the winning distance after the six furlongs and Porthilly ran second ahead of the Henry Candy-trained La Rioja, who was onepaced at the end.

A gelded son of Lope de Vega, The Right Man was winning his third race of the season and his only poor effort came in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest after which he was found to be suffering from a virus. Mont de Marsan-based Didier Guillemin hopes that the four-year-old will now be invited to Hong Kong and a campaign next year in Dubai has not been ruled out.