Deauville Sunday

3.40 Prix Rothschild (Group 1) (3yo+ Fillies) 1m (Straight)

Mandanaba can emulate her dam, the 2006 winner Mandesha, by holding off a strong Irish and British challenge to land the Prix Rothschild, a straight mile Group 1 fillies’ event which has attracted a field of 13 to compete for its €171,420 first prize at Deauville tomorrow.

Mandanaba has not been seen since she got tired late on and eventually had to settle for fourth place in the mile, two furlongs and 110 yards Group 1 Prix de Diane in mid-June. She has earlier gained a classic placing when finishing third in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and her trainer, Francis Graffard, is enjoying a stupendous season.

Aidan O’Brien is represented by a pair of high class three-year-olds in the shape of the recent Group 1 Falmouth Stakes runner-up, January, and Exactly, whose best effort came when she passed the post just a head behind Mandanaba in the Pouliches, while Aidan’s son, Donnacha, saddles the Falmouth sixth, Atsila.

There are also no less than four cross-Channel raiders in the line-up, headed by the John and Thady Gosden-trained duo of the Falmouth third Crimson Advocate and the front-running Spiritual.

Still improving at the age of four, Spiritual ran away with an Epsom Group 3 last time and could be a danger to all if allowed a soft lead.

The final foreign contenders are last year’s Irish 1000 Guineas heroine, Fallen Angel, from the Karl Burke yard, and Pina Sonata, a lightly-raced daughter of Pinatubo who has been uncharacteristically jumped straight up into Group 1 company by trainer James Fanshawe having won nothing grander than a novice event at Leicester.

I expect Mandanaba to have made enough progress in the seven weeks since her last run to enable the home team to turn back the overseas Rothschild challenge for a third consecutive year. Spiritual is likely to give it a good go from the front and may hold on for second place.

SELECTION: MANDANABA

Next best: Spiritual

There could be an Irish victory later on the card when Donnacha O’Brien’s Balantina, a fine third in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot on her latest outing, should relish the step up to seven furlongs in the Group 3 Sky Sports Racing Prix Six Perfections.

Graffard’s Narissa, an eight-length scorer at Saint-Cloud on her only start to date, is the pick of her seven opponents