Prix Rothschild (Group 1)

DEAUVILLE’S month-long August Festival got under way last Sunday and, if opening day is anything to go by, it could be a chastening month for the locals as the British and Irish challengers completely dominated the curtain-raising feature, the Group 1 Prix Rothschild.

The four visiting fillies raced in the first four throughout this straight mile event and the domestic quartet never got a look in.

Sir Mark Prescott’s Moon Target set a decent pace, chased by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Precise with the hot favourite, Blue Bolt, in third.

Moon Target proved hard to pass but, once Precise mastered her approaching the furlong pole, the Irish 1000 Guineas heroine looked set for glory as Blue Bolt seemed slightly outpaced.

In truth, with the optical illusion favouring Precise racing in the centre of the track, Blue Bolt was probably never that far adrift much closer to the inside rail, but it was only once her jockey, Colin Keane, became ultra-vigorous in the closing stages that the daughter of Blue Point, who was bred in Co Limerick by Brendan and Anne-Marie Hayes, really hit top gear to surge past Precise and score by half a length. Moon Target was a length and three-quarters behind in third, a short neck in front of Karl Burke’s Evolutionist.

The first two home were the same as in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes three weeks earlier, but on that occasion the margin in favour of the Andrew Balding-trained winner had been a more decisive two lengths.

Crest of a wave

Berkshire-based Balding continues to ride the crest of a wave, this triumph coming just eight days after Kalpana had headed a brilliant pattern race Saturday treble for the yard by landing the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

He said: “She’s some filly and Colin gave her a wonderful ride. I wasn’t very comfortable watching it, I thought she was beaten in the last furlong, but Colin judged it to perfection.

“Blue Bolt has great physical strength, that’s her biggest quality along with great desire. She’s not easy and likes to take control of things but Alfie Redman, who rides her every day at home, has really mastered her this last six months and done a great job.

“She likes to get on with it and knows her strength, so it’s about harnessing that in the right direction. We’ve long thought that the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown [on September 12th] would be her ideal race and we haven’t changed our minds.”

O’Brien pronounced himself satisfied with Precise’s performance before going on to say: “She may step up in distance on her next start, we will see if that is necessary.”

Rest of the card

The Wertheimer brothers, many times French champions in both owner and breeder categories, suffered something of a bloody nose in the Rothschild when their representatives, Green Spirit and Anakova, filled the last two positions.

Their afternoon had begun in much more productive fashion as they enjoyed a notable Group 3 double with a pair of home-bred two-year-old fillies.

The brace was initiated by Data, a Christopher Head-trained daughter of Lope De Vega, who proved a length and a half too strong for the favourite, Queen Of The Day, in the Sky Sports Racing Prix Six Perfections over seven furlongs.

Then, over a furlong shorter, Andre and Lavinia Fabre’s Kosuma, who is by Night Of Thunder, also passed the post a length and a half to the good in the Prix de Cabourg to take her unbeaten record to three races. Kosuma is set to head to the Group 1 Prix Morny in a fortnight’s time while Data has the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac (on October 4th) as her long-term target.

Unusually, the John and Thady Gosden stable endured a barren Qatar Goodwood Festival, but it got back on track when the Sandringham Handicap runner-up, Symbol Of Majesty, went one better in Deauville’s other Group 3 contest, the mile and two furlongs Sky Sports Racing Prix de Psyche.