Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Prix Jean Prat (Group 1)

TWO Irish runners in the big race at Deauville on Sunday afternoon and Irish domination, as Thesecretadversary, under a masterful front-running ride from Christophe Soumillon, held off the late thrust of Aidan O’Brien’s True Love in the Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Prix Jean Prat to leave winning handler Fozzy Stack celebrating his inaugural European Group 1 triumph.

Not only was this the Co Tipperary trainer’s biggest success (eclipsing the 2023 US Grade 1 win of Aspen Grove) since he took over the licence from his father, Tommy, in 2017, it was the yard’s best moment since Myboycharlie landed another Deauville feature, the Group 1 Prix Morny, way back in 2007.

With regular rider Seamie Heffernan on the sidelines owing to suspension, Soumillon took over and, after consultation with Stack junior and discussions about a likely lack of early pace within the eight-runner field, it was the Belgian who came up with the inspired decision to make the running.

Thesecretadversary has often been his own worst enemy in the past, racing too freely, yet, despite being asked to go from the front for the first time by a jockey who had never ridden him before, his behaviour was much improved, apart from one anxious moment at the halfway stage of the seven-furlong journey when he lugged markedly right, away from the inside running rails.

Up the tempo

Soumillon soon had him back on an even keel and, allowed to set his own fractions and wind up the tempo at a time of his choosing passing the two-furlong marker, the son of St Mark’s Basilica answered his every call and still had half a length to spare over the hard-charging True Love at the line.

The result was particularly rewarding for the Stack family, as they have been heavily involved with Thesecretadversary’s family for some years - Tommy trained his grandam, Scream Blue Murder, to win four races including the 2014 Group 3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes - and this flashy white-faced chesnut was raised at their Thomastown Castle Stud.

“Christophe Soumillon gave him a superb ride and everything worked out perfectly,” Fozzy said. “He had pulled too hard in the English Guineas and, in the Irish equivalent, he never got a clear run, but we have always believed he was a good horse.

“When he then won the Jersey Stakes over seven furlongs at Ascot, Seamie said he would be even better over six furlongs and Christophe said exactly the same thing today. He has entries in the City of York Stakes, as well as the Sprint Cup at Haydock and I will discuss the options with the owners to see what they would like to do. Both partners [the Rupert family in South Africa and the Magnier family worldwide) are involved in the stallion business, so I will be guided by their long-term objectives.

“If you had told me a month ago that I would have had two Royal Ascot winners and then a Group 1 at Deauville, I would have said ‘stop it’. It’s amazing.”

Shade unlucky

In a race where it clearly helped to race close to the head of affairs, True Love must be counted a shade unlucky having given the winner just a little too much rope, while Nighttime benefited from his early position virtually alongside the leader to take third, only a head behind True Love and a neck in front of Samangan. The favourite, the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains victor, Rayif, was a further length and a quarter back in fifth. Maltese and Marquand find a way to win.

Cygames Grand Prix de Paris (Group 1)

TWO Irish runners in the big race at Longchamp on Tuesday evening and Irish capitulation, as Aidan O’Brien’s pacesetting Causeway and Limestone, trained by Joseph O’Brien, dropped away tamely to fill the last two places in a field of seven, over 10 lengths behind the winner, Maltese Cross, in the Group 1 Cygames Grand Prix de Paris over a mile and a half.

Up front, the final furlong could barely have been more exciting. One of the two British challengers, Charlie Johnston’s Ancient Egypt, looked like a sitting duck in the lead after he had taken over from Causeway two and a half furlongs out.

But he battled on in the gamest possible fashion to see off the challenge of Varandir, only for the second ‘rosbif’, the William Haggas-trained Maltese Cross, who had been forced to change course three times under Tom Marquand while searching for a clear passage, to thread the eye of the needle and squeeze through between the pair. The winning margin was a head with a neck back to Alam in third, who deprived Varandir of the minor place berth in the shadow of the winning post by a head.

Serious candidate

Given five and a half weeks off to recover from his fine second place on unsuitably soft ground in the Group 1 Epsom Derby, Maltese Cross has now never finished out of the first two in six career starts and this son of Sea The Stars must be considered a serious candidate in the race to be crowned Europe’s top middle distance three-year-old.

Maureen Haggas, representing her husband, said: “Today, everything didn’t go perfectly for him, yet he still found a way to win. That’s the mark of a good horse.

“What impressed me most was how he handled the journey and the conditions. It was very hot, and travelling to France is now longer and more complicated due to the new regulations, but he took it all in his stride. He recovered well from the Epsom [Derby] and I feel he’s improved even further.

“We’ve always thought he’d improve with age and we’re really looking forward to seeing him at four.”

Irish visitors win

After the disappointment of the Grand Prix, the Irish visitors did get to enjoy a significant success when Joseph O’Brien’s Sons And Lovers made all the running and shrugged off a 3lb penalty to land the mile and six furlong Group 2 Radio FG Prix Maurice de Neuil by a head under a perfectly-judged Dylan Browne McMonagle ride.

Earlier, the Francis Graffard-trained Sea The Moon filly Behrayna extended the winning start to her career to four races with a hard-fought neck success over the Prix de Diane runner-up Pink Panthera in the Group 2 Cygames Prix de Malleret.

The winning time was almost 12 seconds slower than Maltese Cross managed over the same mile and a half trip 40 minutes later.