Prix de Diane Longines

(Group 1)

ANYONE observing events at Chantilly last Sunday was likely to have been struck by a strong sense of déjà vu.

A fortnight earlier, Aidan O’Brien had sent St Mark’s Basilica to the self-same racecourse just 24 hours after his stablemate, Bolshoi Ballet, had flopped badly in the Derby at Epsom and turned the yard’s fortunes around by bringing to an end its long list of Prix du Jockey Club failures.

Now, on the back of another poor showing by the usually omnipotent stable in England in the preceding days (two wins from 35 runners at Royal Ascot), the master Of Ballydoyle halted a similar sequence of Prix de Diane Longines reverses when Joan Of Arc took advantage of an ideal race set-up to land the €1 million 10-and-a-half-furlong fillies’ classic.

In the 15th century, the French national heroine Joan Of Arc was captured and executed by the invading English, this time her equine namesake came over from Ireland to put the best local fillies to the sword.

Given her name, it was almost written in the stars that Joan Of Arc should avenge the defeats of three of her older siblings (Taj Mahal, Happily and Coolmore) in French classics.

Luck

In truth, she required plenty of luck to do so. While many of her adversaries were getting in each other’s way as they tried to mount a challenge, she was (just like St Mark’s Basilica) the beneficiary of a no-nonsense ride from the highly experienced Spaniard, Ioritz Mendizabal, racing close behind a slow pace and then sprinting for all she was worth up the home straight.

Contrary to the oh so smooth success of her male counterpart, it took Joan Of Arc a long time to get the better of the front-running Sibila Spain.

When she did, deep inside the final furlong, she had stolen enough of a march on the chasing pack that the strong finishes of the André Fabre-trained pair, Philomene and Burgarita, were held at bay by three-quarters of a length and a short-head.

Aggressive campaign

Where O’Brien does deserve credit is for his regular tactic of aggressively campaigning his classic prospects in the early weeks of their three-year-old seasons.

While the Fabre duo were each running for just the third time in 2021, Joan Of Arc was having her fifth start of the year, and that extra experience, and the added racecraft that comes with it, held her in good stead.

The winning time of 2m 09.05s which, despite the ground having dried sufficiently to be close to good, was the third slowest of the race’s previous 19 renewals, shows that this was not a true test of stamina.

That less than three lengths covered the first nine home is further evidence of that fact.

And, while Burgarita was within a length or so of the winner two furlongs out and that gap was reasonably constant thereafter, she had the worst of the draw of the three principals and, having broken slowest of the entire field, must have used up a fair amount of gas coming around the outside on the home bend.

Longer trip

Philomene, a half-sister to the Irish Oaks winner, Chiquita, looks to be crying out for a longer trip. One of the first off the bridle, she was short of room with two furlongs to run but, having found daylight, looked quite one-paced at the furlong pole, only to suddenly engage top gear and finish best of all.

It is therefore difficult to argue that Joan Of Arc will ultimately prove superior to the two place-getters, certainly at a mile and a quarter and beyond.

One could not even be absolutely confident that, granted different circumstances, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner, Coeursamba, who was among the backmarkers at the top of the straight and then went down a dead end before keeping on steadily, would not have been involved in the finish rather than finishing 11th.

Joan Of Arc is the seventh foal of arguably the world’s best active broodmare, You’resothrilling.

Herself a dual group winner on the track and a full-sister to the phenomenal Giant’s Causeway, her offspring have three major traits in common: they are all by Galileo, they were (or are) all extremely talented racehorses, and they all proved best at distances below a mile and a quarter.

Arc prospects

Mendizabal argued afterwards that Joan Of Arc may overturn that third assertion and benefit from a step-up in distance, but his positive words were understandable given the local media’s desire to talk up her prospects of landing the holy grail of French racing, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (in other words, an Arc Arc de Triomphe triumph!).

O’Brien was also characteristically diplomatic when quizzed about her potential stamina for a mile and a half, repeating Mendizabal’s post-race report that “she only really got going a furlong down”.

“This filly is progressing with every run, has a lovely mind, is very well balanced and has a big long stride,” O’Brien said, before adding that, in contrast to his Oaks winner, Snowfall, “she still needs to prove herself over a mile and a half.”