With just three starts to his name prior to Sunday’s Prix du Jockey Club
(Fr-G1), New Bay (Dubawi) was as raw as his
21-year-old partner, the champion
jumps jockey Vincent Cheminaud,
but the pair belied their
inexperience to deliver the goods
for the potent Khalid Abdullah-Andre Fabre connection at
Chantilly.
Sent off the 16-5
favorite as the Parisiens banked on
him marginally above Karaktar (High Chaparral), the
homebred — who was a highly promising second in the May 10 Poule d’Essai des Poulains
(Fr-G1) — swooped from rear
with a decisive surge to master Highland Reel (Galileo) passing the 300-meter point and secure a 1
1/2-length triumph in race-record time (2:05.69 for about 1 5/16 miles).
“This is
unbelievable and a dream,” Cheminaud commented. “At
the beginning of the season, my only target was to lose
my claim on the flat and I never imagined winning the Jockey Club.”
Fabre
welcomed back a fourth winner of this classic.
“He had shown in
the Poulains that he has a great turn of foot and we really thought he would stay,”
the trainer said.
“He looks as
if he will stay even further, so he has plenty of options.”
Like his stable companion Make Believe (Makfi), New Bay was kept away
from
black-type races at two and his debut could hardly have been seen as an advert
for a
future classic winner, as he was beaten two lengths by the filly Urjuwaan (Cape
Cross), who has failed to win another race.
Returning to upset the Niarchos Family’s
well-regarded Tale of Life (Deep Impact) in a conditions event over
the Poule
d’Essai des Poulains mile at Longchamp April 20, he entered the May 10 classic an
underdog with obvious potential and ran like that from
his unfavorable wide post position. Making up ground
hand-over-fist under Cheminaud all the way up
the straight once Make Believe had flown, he looked
tailor-made for this increased demand of stamina, but
enthusiasm was tempered by a second slice of ill
fortune when the draw was made on Friday.
With little
option other than holding up his mount from stall 13, Cheminaud waited with one behind early but had his
chief market rival Karaktar just ahead to help with his
orienteering. After that rival had been committed by
Christophe Soumillon down the outer with a quarter-mile remaining, New Bay was unleashed with a killer
turn of acceleration once the whip was felt and quickly had his measure. Surging
by the
much-improved Poulains beaten-favorite Highland Reel before the eighth pole, the
bay only
needed a couple more flicks with the whip to readily assert as the slightly
unlucky War
Dispatch (War Front) stayed on into third.
Abdullah’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe
said of
the winner, “It is a fantastic result and a great moment for Juddmonte and the
whole
team. We knew he had a great turn of foot and although we probably expected him
to be
a little closer to the pace early on that’s the way it turned out with the draw.
He is a classy
horse who might stay a mile and a half, so the Grand Prix de Paris ([Fr-G1] at Longchamp July
14) is an option along with the Eclipse S. ([Eng-G1] at Sandown July 4), but he’ll be
in all the top
races and we’ll decide in time.”
Aidan O’Brien said of Highland Reel, “He ran a very good race. He progressed
well from the last race and he has a lot of options. There is the Irish Derby ([Ire-G1] at
the Curragh June
27) or the Eclipse.”
New Bay hails from one of Juddmonte’s most prolific families. His third dam,
Bahamian,
produced Wemyss Bight (Dancing Brave), the dam of four-time Grade 1 winner
and
sire Beat Hollow (Sadler’s Wells). Bahamian is the second dam of Oasis
Dream
(Green Desert) and Zenda (Zamindar), the dam of Horse of the Year Kingman
(Invincible Spirit).
Fabre also sent out Godolphin’s Manatee (Monsun) to victory in Sunday’s Grand
Prix de Chantilly (Fr-G2), extending his record haul in the contest to nine, but
his first since 2000.
Untested as a juvenile, Manatee debuted with a course-and-distance firsters’
win last April, but slipped to second, after nearly five months off, at lowly
Chateaubriant
next time September 9. Back in the winning groove tackling 15 furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte
September 29, he closed his season posting a breakthrough score in the Prix du Conseil de
Paris (Fr-G2) at Longchamp October 19, and opened this term with a fourth in the
May 6 Prix d’Hedouville (Fr-G3) back at the Bois de
Boulogne track last time.
Manatee stalked a steady pace in
third for the most part here. Shuffled back to fourth on the
home turn, he came under pressure approaching the final
quarter mile and found a wealth of reserves under a continued
drive in the latter stages to repel the ominous threat of market
rival Prince Gibraltar (Rock of Gibraltar).
“Manatee has steadily improved since his
first run of the season in the Prix d’Hedouville at Longchamp
and that was a good performance today,” commented Fabre. “We shall now run him
in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud ([Fr-G1] June 28).”
Fresh from annexing Saturday’s Sandy Lane S. (Eng-G2) with Adaay (Kodiac)
at Haydock, the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum-William Haggas axis repeated
the
dose in another straight dash as Muthmir (Invincible Spirit) claimed a career
high with a narrow verdict in Sunday’s Prix du Gros-Chene (Fr-G2).
The gelded bay served his apprenticeship in handicaps last term, garnering
valuable pots in
the July 26 Skybet Dash H. at York and September 13 Portland H. at Doncaster,
while
also
running fifth in the August 2 Stewards’ Cup H. at Glorious Goodwood. He lined up
for this first overseas foray coming back off an attempt to make all in the May
13
Duke of
York S. (Eng-G2) back at York.
Reverting to hold-up tactics, Muthmir was steadied in
sixth after the
initial strides. Slightly impeded when pushed along to close inside the two
pole, he
quickened smartly and kept on strongly under a drive in the closing stages to
deny Catcall (One Cool Cat)
in a thrilling finish.
“He was looking around when the gates opened and took
(jockey) Paul (Hanagan) by surprise,” explained trainer’s wife, Maureen Haggas. “He eventually
got a
good trip and kept on strongly to the line. It is (Royal) Ascot now and the
King’s
Stand S. ([Eng-G1] June 16).”
With another second, Catcall registered a hat-trick of runner-up finishes in the
contest.
“Catcall is coming back to his best,” said owner Gerard Samama. “He’s been
runner-up in
this race for the last three years and maybe we will eventually win it next
year.”
Invincible Spirit was responsible for another Group 2 winner at Chantilly
Sunday, for his three-year-old filly Impassable posted a mild upset in the Prix
de Sandringham (Fr-G2).
Off the board in juvenile starts at Maisons-Laffitte and Saint-Cloud, Impassable
opened
her sophomore campaign with a seven-furlong maiden score on the Polytrack here
March
12, but slipped a notch in a one-mile conditions heat back at Saint-Cloud in her
penultimate outing April 5. Wertheimer & Frere’s homebred bay stepped up from a May 2 conditions
score
over this course and distance last time and dented lofty reputations by
registering a career
high in this black-type debut.
Steadied off the pace in fifth until turning for
home, she
came under pressure when angled into clear runway with 300
meters remaining and swooped late under a final-furlong drive
to deny the resolute long-time leader La Berma (Lawman). “TDN Rising
Star” Night of Light (Sea the Stars) got the better of Poule d’Essai des
Pouliches (Fr-G1) placegetter Mexican Gold (Medaglia d’Oro) in the
battle for third.
“She’s a lovely filly with a fantastic turn of
foot and we really hoped she’d run a great race today,” said winning trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias. “It’s now on to a Group 1
and that will most likely be the Prix Rothschild ([Fr-G1] August 2) at
Deauville. We shall split our trump cards and send (Prix du Muguet [Fr-G2] victress) Bawina
(Dubawi) to the Falmouth S. ([Eng-G1 July 10) at Newmarket.
Workmanlike when successful in the 11-furlong Prix de la Seine at Longchamp May
10,
the imposing Kataniya (Raven’s Pass) was far from flashy again in Sunday’s Prix
de Royaumont (Fr-G3), this latest rung on the
ladder, but again
delivered where it mattered under a tactically astute ride.
Kept away from the other runners and wide out on the track initially by Soumillon, the bay was
brought
over to spearhead the field after the first half-mile and was doing little more
than a
half-speed passing the chateau. Receiving the typical French ride of being asked
the
question only with a quarter-mile left, the Aga Khan’s homebred took time to organize as
Sea Calisi (Youmzain)
stayed on down the outer but was always doing enough to hold on.
“It was a
deliberate
tactic by Christophe to isolate her in the early part of the race, as she has a
huge stride
and we didn’t want her to be caught behind in traffic,” trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre
explained. “She’s a strong galloper who has won on merit and as she has already
run four
times this year she maybe needs a break now. She will tell us if she does and if
she
doesn’t, the logical next race is the Prix de Malleret ([Fr-G2] at Saint-Cloud June
28), but if she
needs some rest she could go straight to the Irish Oaks ([Ire-G1] at the Curragh July
18).”
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