ARC Prix Maurice de Gheest (Group 1)
WE had another round of ‘European Champion Sprinter Musical Chairs’ at Deauville last Sunday with the running of the Group 1 ARC Prix Maurice de Gheest.
When the room fell silent, it was the unlikely figure of Sajir who remained seated to post his claim to a title that seemingly every other week has a new heir to the throne treating the position like a hot potato.
Sure, the Maurice de Gheest is run over the unusual distance of six and a half furlongs. That still doesn’t explain why the Andre Fabre-trained Sajir, a four-year-old who had finished unplaced in both previous Group 1 attempts and came into the race with an unspectacular pattern race strike rate of two wins from eight starts, should come out on top.
His odds of 27/1 did not appear to be particularly generous, yet he won fair and square by the convincing margin of a length and three-quarters.
He also beat the ‘right’ horses in the process to give the form a veneer of solidity - the reigning champ Lazzat edging out his fellow last time out Group 1-scorer Woodshauna for second with Regional, another horse already proven at this level, a further length and three-quarters back in third.
Strong pace
For the first five furlongs proceedings played out as expected with Lazzat, the 1/2 on favourite following his Royal Ascot heroics in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, cutting out a strong pace. But, with a furlong and a half to run, Lazzat was struggling to shake off Regional rather than pulling clear.
Sajir and Woodshauna had filled the last two places until approaching the final quarter mile and then plotted very different courses as they made up ground.
Oisin Murphy chose the centre of the track with Sajir, who was easy to pick out as travelling best with a furlong and a half to run and then exhibited a fine turn of foot, while Woodshauna’s pilot Christophe Soumillon elected to come stands side and also conjured a good late burst from his charge, albeit the winning post came just too soon for him to grab second spot.
If winning connections were surprised with the result, they did a fine job of hiding their true feelings. Murphy suggested that his biggest problem was making sure that he didn’t hit the front too soon, saying: “Sajir was in cruise control for most of the race and felt exceptional as he powered to the line.”
Fantastic horse
Ted Voute, racing manager to the successful owner-breeder, Prince A A Faisal, added: “I came back from America a day early especially for this, because we believe that Sajir is a fantastic horse.”
“The plan all along has been to make him into a stallion, and this victory will mean a lot to the Prince, who also raced both his sire Make Believe, and Make Believe’s only previous Group 1 winner, Mishriff.
“This result will make all the difference to his stud potential, and he is set to retire at the end of the season. The Prix de la Foret is one of his possible targets before then.”
Fabre was winning this race for the first time in his long career. He now just needs a triumph in France’s only more prestigious sprint, the Prix de l’Abbaye, to complete a full house of the nation’s Group 1 events.
No slowing down
And Fabre is showing no signs of slowing down a few months short of his 80th birthday. Before Sunday, he had registered three trebles and a double in the first five meetings of Deauville’s August festival, including taking out both a Group 3 and a listed at the town’s premier track 24 hours earlier.
Jerome Reynier, trainer of Lazzat, reported: “James [Doyle] said that he was never able to get Lazzat fully relaxed, he was expending too much energy and hit a flat spot, which is rare for him.
“He’s still run his race and held on for second, so I can’t be too disappointed. The British Champions Sprint Stakes at the end of the season is his main objective as we know he goes well with plenty of juice in the ground.”
An English raid, for the Haydock Sprint Cup, is also a possibility for Woodshauna, according to his trainer, Francis Graffard.
FRANCIS Graffard rarely leaves a big day empty-handed these days, and so it proved here as he landed the main supporting race, the Group 3 Prix Daphnis, run over the round mile, with the Wootton Bassett colt, Sahlan.
Given a well-judged waiting ride by Mickael Barzalona, he came through late to beat Ciaran by a length and a half.
Home-bred by Al Shaqab Racing out of their listed winner, Wasmya, Sahlan now has the Group 1 Prix du Moulin on his radar, though he would need to be supplemented for that September 7th Longchamp contest.
Graffard said afterwards: “I’ve always really rated Sahlan, but he got sick after he ran in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains. He’s a quality colt who has matured and changed a lot physically.”
Earlier in the afternoon, Barzalona didn’t have things go his way in quite the same fashion aboard Johnny Murtagh’s Sands Of Mali filly, Songhai, in the Prix du Cercle, a €47,600 listed contest run over five furlongs.
Held up in the middle of an 11-strong field alongside the Jack Channon-trained British hope, Miss Attitude, Songhai had to wait for room just as Miss Attitude was beginning her forward move.
That proved crucial as her rival went on to register a one and a half-length defeat of a second cross-Channel challenger, Clive Cox’s Red Orange, with Songhai flying home late for third, just a short-head further back.