By Tom Frary
Boasting the best form heading into Saturday's G2 Prix Eugene Adam at Saint-Cloud, Sunderland Holdings' My Prospero (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) was there to be shot at on the front end but proved as game as he is talented to make his class tell under a no-nonsense ride from Tom Marquand.
Sent forward from his outside stall to take up the running after the first two furlongs, the William Haggas-trained 3-5 favourite who had been a battling third in Royal Ascot's G1 St James's Palace S. June 14 was soon in total control. Wound up over half a mile from home, the bay looked under threat as Vagalame (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) snuck up his inner inside the final two furlongs but that rival's effort proved short-lived and the homebred kept digging deep to score by half a length from Zagrey (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), with Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}) 3/4 of a length away in third.
My Prospero, who encountered Claymore (Fr) (New Bay {GB}) when third at Newmarket on debut in October, beat the subsequent Britannia H. winner Thesis (GB) (Kingman {GB}) when breaking his maiden at Newbury Apr. 16 before upstaging Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in Sandown's Listed Heron S. May 19. His St James's Palace effort was his last at a mile and there is a chance he could even get further than this 10-furlong trip based on the way he ground this out.
There was an incident after the finish, where the winner dislodged Marquand after proving difficult to stop, but the duo appeared fine shortly after.
“Normally here you pull up straight but I hit the line that hard that I though 'uh-oh, I'm not going to pull up there,'” Marquand told Racing Post. “I went to go left–one other came with me–and just as he got to where the cones were he changed onto his right lead and tried to go off to the right.
“It wasn't his fault, it was just one of those unfortunate things. He looks fine–that's the main worry when something like that happens–and we'll certainly have better days to come.”
“I never really intended to make the running, I just wanted to be positive,” added Marquand. “It was his first go at a mile and a quarter and I thought he'd stay very well but he still showed babyish signs. He's a beautiful horse, he's still learning and he has a big future.”
Pedigree Notes
G3 Weld Park S. heroine My Titania is turning into a budding blue hen, with her third foal, My Prospero, her second group winner. Already one of three stakes winners-all placed at Group 1 level–for the daughter of listed winner Fairy Of The Night (Ire) (Danehill), the son of Iffraaj is joined by the stakes-winning filly My Astra (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), who was second in the G1 Pretty Polly S. and My Oberon (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), successful in the G3 Earl Of Sefton S. and third in the G1 Prix d'Ispahan. Her latest is the unraced juvenile My Asteria (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and a weanling colt by Night Of Thunder (Ire).
A half-sister to three-time Group 2 victor and G1 King's Stand S. third Muthmir (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), My Titania counts the stakes-placed stakes-producer Aneedah (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) as another half-sibling. This is also the extended family of GIII Orchid S. heroine Dress Rehearsal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), already the dam of two stakes winners to the cover of Invincible Spirit, as well as the stakes-placed Christophermarlowe by leading American sire Tapit.
Saturday, Saint-Cloud, France
PRIX EUGENE ADAM-G2, €130,000, Saint-Cloud, 7-16, 3yo, 10fT, 2:03.84, g/s.
1–MY PROSPERO (IRE), 127, c, 3, by Iffraaj (GB)
1st Dam: My Titania (Ire) (GSW-Ire, $124,775),
by Sea The Stars (Ire)
2nd Dam: Fairy of the Night (Ire), by Danehill
3rd Dam: Sassenach (Ire), by Night Shift
1ST GROUP WIN. O/B-Sunderland Holding Inc (IRE); T-William
Haggas; J-Tom Marquand. €74,100. Lifetime Record: SW &
G1SP-Eng, 5-3-0-2, €182,294. *1/2 to My Oberon (Ire)
(Dubawi {Ire}), GSW-Eng & G1SP-Fr, $436,599, & to My Astra
(Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), SW-Eng, G1SP-Ire & SP-Fr, $131,405.
Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Zagrey (Fr), 127, c, 3, Zarak (Fr)–Grey Anatomy (GB), by
Slickly (Fr). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (€32,000 RNA Ylg '20
ARQSEP). O-Ecurie Altima & Gerard Augustin-Normand;
B-Ecurie Euroling (FR); T-Yann Barberot. €28,600.
3–Junko (GB), 127, g, 3, Intello (Ger)–Lady Zuzu, by
Dynaformer. O/B-Wertheimer & Frere (GB); T-Andre Fabre.
€13,650.
Margins: HF, 3/4, HD. Odds: 0.60, 19.00, 3.60.
Also Ran: Vagalame (Ire), Russipant Fal (Mor), Galaxie Gold (Fr), Haya Zark (Fr). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.
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