Desmond Stoneham
DEAUVILLE SUNDAY
THE final weekend of the Deauville August meeting looks a little drab compared to earlier in the month. There are three group races tomorrow and all have attracted small fields. The feature event is the Lucien Barriere Grand Prix de Deauville, which can be used as a trial for the Qatar Arc de Triomphe, but there is nothing in the Group 2 contest which would push Enable out of a canter.
Charlie Appleby saddles Frontiersman, with James Doyle in the saddle. This improving son of Dubawi ran second to Highland Reel in the Investec Coronation Cup and has since been third in the Betfred Geoffrey Freer Stakes on soft ground. The best French guide to the 12 1/2 furlong race is the Haras de la Pomme Prix de Reux over the course and distance earlier in the month.
Tiberian just held on to beat Doha Dream by a short-head but he was conceding 4 1/2lb. In the Grand Prix they meet at level weights. When they clashed in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Tiberian was seventh after several unhelpful incidents and Doha Dream fell and put Gregory Benoist on the sidelines for nearly two months, but he is back in the saddle again.
GERMAN RUNNER
The German runner Savoir Vivre landed the Grand Prix a year ago was an average sixth in the Reux. Corine Barande-Barbe won this race in 2011 with the legendary Cirrus des Aigles and will be hoping that Garlingari will follow in his footsteps. The six-year-old was a well-beaten fourth in the event a year ago but recently runner up to First Sitting in the Prix Gontaut-Brion Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Mille et Mille won the Qatar Prix du Cadran in 2015 and was fourth in last year’s Gold Cup. He needs cut to show his best form and this distance is a little on the short side for him in this company.
The super consistent Travelling Man comes back in distance and he will be trying to land his first group race after several places, including a third to the Darley Prix Kergorlay winner Marmelo in the Prix de Barbeville in April.
PRIX DE MEAUTRY BARRIERE
There is normally a large contingent of English sprinters in the Prix de Meautry Barriere but only one in the field of the Group 3 six-furlong event this time. Last Thursday, Roger Varian supplemented Lahore and the services of Olivier Peslier have been obtained for the colt.
He has won just a maiden at Doncaster and then a handicap at Windsor, but his training must have been witnessing something special on the home gallops. The colt has also been entered in the Qatar Prix du Moulin de Longhamp and the Qatar Prix de la Foret.
Finsbury Square lifted the Meautry a year ago and has only won on the all weather at Chantilly since. He then had an unsuccessful trip to Meydan and after third to Signs of Blessing in the Prix de Saint-Georges, was runner up to Muthmir in the Prix du Gros-Chene before a fair fifth to The Tin Man in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Ascot.
Signs of Blessing was fifth to Finsbury Square in this race last year and must concede a kilo (2 1/4lb) tomorrow. Since winning the Saint-Georges, he has run eighth in the King’s Stand Stakes and fifth to Brando in the LARC Prix Maurice de Gheest. Fas was last in that race but certainly did not show the form which captured the Group 3 Prix Sigy at Chantilly.
Freddy Head brings Stunning Spirit back to his shortest ever trip but he is smart, having been runner-up to the dual classic winner Brametot in the Prix de Fontainebleau. Last time out, the colt was second in the one mile Prix Paul de Moussac Longines.
Andre Fabre relies on two fillies. Aiming For Rio was owned by Theresa Marnane when she won over the course and distance last year but she now runs in the Godolphin silks. She landed a hat trick when picking up her second listed race last month. Spiritfix has not reached the same level and picked up a conditions race on the soft last month.
PRIX QUINCEY BARRIERE
Just five runners in the Prix Quincey Barriere. Andre Fabre trains two of them in this Group 3 mile which in 2014 was won by Solow, who has been retired from racing but starting another career in a different discipline.
Graphite is on a hat-trick but has not been out since landing the Group 3 Prix La Force back in April. However, the form has worked out quite well. His other runner, Nordic Dream, is much more experienced but has not been in the winner’s circle since his debut in July 2015. He has yet to be placed in a group contest.
Dicton has the smartest from in the straight mile but he has not been seen since the end of May. Last year, he lifted the Prix de Fontainebleau from Taareef and was then third in both the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club. This season he was sent to Sha Tin for the Audemars Piguet QE II Cup but was a well-beaten seventh of eight. He then ran fourth in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan.
Attendu won a Group 3 event here last year but is inferior to Dicton on a line through Jimmy Two Times and Taareef, who had him a well beaten third in the Prix Messidor over a straight mile at Maisons-Laffitte last month.
Wireless was fifth in the same race but accounted for Nordic Dream at the same track before.
RECOMMENDED
Lucien Barriere Grand Prix de Deauville
Selection: FRONTIERSMAN
Next best: Tiberian
Prix de Meautry Barriere
Selection: SIGNS OF BLESSING
Next best: Aiming For Rio
Prix de Quincey Barriere
Selection: DICTON
Next best: Graphite