With eight renewals already in place, Andre Fabre fired two serious bullets
at Sunday’s Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville, the prestigious finale of the
month-long festival, and it was second-string Masterstroke who came out on top
with a last-gasp success under Mickael Barzalona.
Runner-up in the Group 2 Prix Hocquart over 11 furlongs at Longchamp on May
13 and the Group 3 Prix du Lys over a furlong farther at Chantilly on June 17,
the homebred son of Monsun captured the listed Prix Frederic de Lagrange over
that distance at Vichy last out on July 19, but was usurped in the stable
pecking order by the subsequently disappointing Tenenbaum here.
Breaking smartly to be second initially behind Don Bosco, Masterstroke was
throttled back to slip in behind that habitual front runner, Ok Coral and
Gatewood. As the latter took command at the top of the stretch, the bay was
being wound up for his run in behind and he delivered a telling late surge to
deny the British raider in the shade of the post.
One race prior to the Grand Prix de Deauville, Fractional settled in midpack
early in the Group 3 Prix Quincey before working his way to the fore with over a
furlong remaining. The bay son of Manduro prevailed after a prolonged physical
battle with Moonwalk in Paris, then survived a stewards’ inquiry into that
incident.
Fractional was favored when third behind subsequent Grade 1 Secretariat
Stakes Bayrir in the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam going 10 furlongs at
Maisons-Laffitte on July 22 before winning the listed Prix de Tourgeville over
this track and trip last out on August 7.
Also on Sunday at Deauville, Jimmy Styles was rousted into early action in
the Group 3 Prix de Meautry and, after tracking the pace in a close-up second,
was committed on the front passing halfway for a gutsy score.
“Going into the race, (trainer) Clive Cox told me he was doing well and I got
a perfect trip,” jockey Gerald Mosse said. “These English horses are tough and
know how to hold on to the end.”
Jimmy Styles showed he was a group performer masquerading as a handicapper
when winning the 2009 Ayr Gold Cup and it has taken nearly three years for the
Inchinor chestnut to score in that category, but the conditions were right here
for him to make the belated breakthrough.
This term, he had been runner-up to the main Group 1 July Cup protagonists
The Cheka and Mayson in both the listed Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster on March 31
and listed Abernant Stakes at Newmarket on April 19, respectively, before
filling the same spot in the Group 3 Greenlands Stakes at The Curragh on May 26.
Off the board in the June 19 Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot,
he entered this one off an unplaced effort in a six-furlong conditions event at
Doncaster on August 4.
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