Sunday preview

Maranoa Charlie Heads Sunday Saint-Cloud Cast

There are a trio of elite-level contests at Saint-Cloud on Sunday, with the Criterium International boasting arguably the most exciting protagonist in Maranoa Charlie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) who looks to cap an unbeaten juvenile campaign. Having won his first three starts by a cumulative margin of nearly 20 lengths, including the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon over this mile trip and track earlier this month, Peter Maher, Carl Fitzgerald and John Baxter's TDN Rising Star is all substance and little hype as he faces his sternest test to date taken...

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Japanese Derby Hero Danon Decile Aims For Another Classic Ring

The Japanese Classic finale sees G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) hero Danon Decile (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) line up against 17 rivals in the 3000-metre G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) at Kyoto on Sunday. Trained by Shogo Yasuda on behalf of Danox Co, the favoured son of dual Grade I runner-up Top Decile (Congrats) has been on a break since his Derby win in May. He will also be venturing beyond 2400 metres for the first time and leaves from stall four. Yasuda said of the 2024 G3 Keisei Hai...

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Rebel's Romance Back For The Preis Von Europa

Sunday sees Cologne's G1 Mehl-Mulhens-Stiftung Preis von Europa, for which the King George hero Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) would have been a warm order, but there is still intrigue with Godolphin's 2022 title-holder Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in attendance. Having covered himself in glory when third in a red-hot renewal of Ascot's July showcase event, the winner of five top-flight events including a Breeders' Cup Turf and a Dubai Sheema Classic appears as good as ever and that should be enough despite the presence of Liberty Racing's G1 Deutsches...

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'He Is Very Rare': O'Brien Ready For Latest Episode In Kyprios Saga

Following the exploits of Jan Brueghel (Ire) and Illinois (Ire) on Saturday, it is the turn of Kyprios (Ire) to write one of the final stories of the grand epoch of Galileo (Ire) in his St Leger on Sunday. Heading back to The Curragh for the Irish equivalent he mastered in 2022, Moyglare's elite homebred seems to know no limitations to his supremacy in the staying division and it is highly likely he will augment Ballydoyle's group 1 haul during Irish Champions Weekend. Nothing can diminish him. Not the best...

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'He Looks The Complete Horse Now': Varian Relishing Charyn Moulin Date

   In an uncertain world, he is the solid one, Mr reliable, all class, no issues, no weaknesses. Nurlan Bizakov's pride and joy Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), who is so honest he even brought Roger Varian to tears at Deauville, is one of those perpetual group 1-winning stalwarts of the game that come along every so often. Sunday's G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp offers his sternest test to date, with the G1 Queen Anne Stakes and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois hero opposed by two elite 3-year-old sons...

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Inspiral On The Brink Of History At Deauville

Still one of the best of her sex on her day, Cheveley Park Stud's Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) heads back to Deauville on Sunday to bid to achieve what none other has in the G1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois. So impressive here in 2022 and 2023, the John and Thady Gosden-trained 5-year-old is in unchartered territory tackling a third that the likes of Miesque, Spinning World and Palace Pier (GB) were never asked to entertain. Found out for lack of stamina in the G1 Prince of...

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Mqse De Sevigne Bids For Rothschild Double

Sunday sees Deauville's August Festival get underway and with it Baron Edouard De Rothschild's Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) as she bids for back-to-back renewals of the G1 Prix Rothschild. Also successful in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet and in this term's G1 Prix d'Ispahan at ParisLongchamp, the Andre Fabre-trained homebred is the logical choice here having had her most recent form boosted by Horizon Dore (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) at Royal Ascot. She looks a solid proposition re-opposed by Yeguada Centurion's increasingly disappointing Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}),...

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Juddmonte's Babouche Faces Males In Anglesey Test

Gaining TDN Rising Star status with a five-length debut success over six furlongs at Cork last month, Juddmonte's Babouche (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) squares up against the boys in Sunday's G3 Jebel Ali Racecourse and Stables Anglesey Stakes at The Curragh. Ger Lyons tests her against another TDN Rising Star in Camille Pissarro (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who was down the field along with Cowardofthecounty (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) in the G2 Coventry Stakes. Beaten under two lengths at Royal Ascot, Stonestreet Stables, Tracy Farmer and John Oxley's Cowardofthecounty had previously...

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Celandine Faces Robert Papin Test

Sunday's racing is more low-key than we have been used to this week, but Chantilly stage a significant juvenile staging post in the G2 Prix Robert Papin in which Rockcliffe Stud's Listed Empress Stakes winner Celandine (GB) (Kingman {GB}) takes the next step in her career. With Arabian Dusk (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) boosting that Newmarket form, the Ed Walker-trained homebred takes pole position for this six-furlong contest which also hosts Mohamed Saeed Al Shahi's course-and-distance G3 Prix du Bois scorer Arabie (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}). Strangely exclusively contested by...

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Kikkuli Takes Aim At The Jean Prat

Racing with the weight of family honour on his shoulders, Juddmonte's unique commodity Kikkuli (GB) (Kingman {GB}) lines up as one of the most tantalising members of Sunday's cast for Deauville's G1 Haras d'Etreham Prix Jean Prat. Cruelly denied by pixels in Royal Ascot's G3 Jersey Stakes over this seven-furlong trip last month, the half-brother to Frankel (GB) and Noble Mission (GB) was finishing best of all in that competitive affair which rates at least the equal in terms of form to this race. While she was only fourth in...

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All Eyes On Opera Singer In The Irish 1000

This year's G1 1,000 Guineas took place without Ballydoyle's Opera Singer (Justify), so there is a sense of unfinished business when it comes to the pecking order of the 3-year-old fillies at present. Sunday's Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas at The Curragh should answer some questions, none more so than that concerning how straight she is for a tough reintroduction having suffered that setback. So good in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, some will tell you that she may not have to be at 100% to win this but when it...

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Bucanero Fuerte Returns On Sunday

Naas stage some potentially key Royal Ascot pointers on Sunday, with the feature G3 Goffs Lacken S. seeing the reintroduction of AMO Racing and Giselle De Aguiar's G1 Phoenix S. and G2 Railway S. winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). Failing to see out the seventh furlong of the G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. when last seen at The Curragh in September, he faces last year's G3 Marble Hill S. winner Givemethebeatboys (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) who has a race under his belt having won Navan's Listed Committed S....

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