Zellie (Fr)

High fashion and summer celebration moves from Ascot to Chantilly on Sunday, with the G1 Prix de Diane Longines the feature prize. Imad Al Sagar's 'TDN Rising Star' Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) comes off a fine third in the Oaks over a mile-and-a-half trip that may have stretched her and provided she is suffering no major hangover from that effort is primed to provide Hollie Doyle with her first Classic. With honours roughly even in recent times between the French and the visitors, she presents a major obstacle to the...

It has taken over a month longer than expected, but Cheveley Park Stud's Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) finally gets racing again on Friday as she bids to pick up the thread of her flawless 2-year-old campaign in Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation S. While her achievements in winning the G2 May Hill S. and G1 Fillies' Mile seemed laudable enough at the time, subsequent events have unfolded to display them in even better light particularly as they were garnered during her formative phase. As the Fillies' Mile and May Hill runner-up...

Ensuring there was no repeat of the Prix du Jockey Club double-draw farce, an independent bailiff was on hand to oversee Thursday morning's presentation for the 173rd edition of Chantilly's G1 Prix de Diane Longines. Proceedings concluded without hitch, with the overnight pre-confirmations all standing their ground and a final field of 18 is set to head postward for Sunday's €1,000,000 10 1/2-furlong Classic, turfdom's very own Competition of Elegance. Imad Al Sagar's G1 Cazoo Oaks third Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is among the nominees and has drawn gate two,...

After the decision to avoid the stress of a G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas examination for Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the latest renewal of the Newmarket Classic has become open season for up-and-comers in the miling division. Very few of the 14 left in the race can be safely discounted and with a filly unproven beyond six furlongs at the head of the market, it is fair to say that anything can happen in this one. There were shades of Ravinella (Mr. Prospector) in the way Ballydoyle's number one and 'TDN...

First it was Agave, then Dreamflight and now Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) as the Andre Fabre-Olivier Peslier link-up continues apace in the new season. Al Wasmiyah Farm's G1 Prix Marcel Boussac heroine returns in the seven-furlong G3 Prix Imprudence at Deauville, a key trial for the upcoming mile Classics last won by a subsequent 1000 Guineas heroine in Natagora (Fr) (Divine Light {Jpn}) in 2008 and in 2015 by the eventual G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches scorer Ervedya (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). Peslier is on record as saying that he...

Both Group 1 winner Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and 'TDN Rising Star' Raclette (GB) (Frankel {GB}) will not be seen on a racecourse again this season, but trainer Andre Fabre has highlighted 1000 Guineas targets for his charges. Owned for her last three starts by Ali Hamad Al Attiya's Al Wasmiyah Farm, the bay won three races for Fabre's daughter Lavinia including the July 11 Listed Prix Roland de Chambure. She ran second in the G3 Prix Six Perfections at Deauville in August in her first run for her...

Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac which opened ParisLongchamp's Arc fixture took place without TDN Rising Star and likely favourite Raclette (GB) (Frankel {GB}) after Andre Fabre opted to wait for Friday's G3 Oh So Sharp S. due to an excess of 20 millimetres of rain falling pre-racing. How Juddmonte's unbeaten daughter of Emollient (Empire Maker) would have coped with the very soft ground is an unknown, but her stablemate Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) handled it with aplomb to deny the 33-1 shot Times Square (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) in...

It is racing's greatest dichotomy. Labelled by the official ParisLongchamp website as "la meilleure course au monde", the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will have few who brook any argument with that claim. Yet it is the time of year within which it is framed that delivers the ultimate snag, with autumn's entry prompting an often drastic change in terrain and a late turnpike for the kings and queens of summer just past. Half of the previous 10 renewals of France's great monument have been run on testing...

Deauville's month-long festival begins on Tuesday, with the G1 Prix Rothschild the central focus of the opening fixture switched from its customary slot on the last Sunday in July. As usual, the foreign presence is strong and foreboding, with Aidan O'Brien looking to continue his golden year in France with Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). Successful in the G1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket May 2, she has since run second to Coeursamba (Fr) (The Wow Signal {Ire}) in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at ParisLongchamp May 16, third in...