Darjina poised for Deauville clash with Finsceal Beo
Alain de Royer-Dupre’s filly lost her unbeaten record in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot last month when she could only finish third behind impressive winner Indian Ink and German raider Mi Emma, two more possibles for Deauville.
However, connections of Darjina are confident she is much more at home on a sounder surface than the one she encountered at Ascot.
“She’s fine, she’s working well and she is going to run in the Prix d’Astarte,” said Georges Rimaud, racing manager to the owner, Princess Zahra Aga Khan.
“Everything is ticking along well. She had an extra week or two of recuperation after Ascot and we are looking forward to running her at Deauville.
“She ran a very good race, especially as she slipped on the final corner. She was beaten by a filly who handled the conditions much better than she did.
“I don’t know if she really handles that sort of ground, so it was a good run all things considered.”
Meanwhile Manduro, rated by many as the best horse in the world on turf, is likely to have his next start in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on August 12.
Andre Fabre’s five-year-old looked the real deal as he comfortably held off Dylan Thomas in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, with subsequent Eclipse winner Notnowcato well behind in third.
And even though that performance came over 10 furlongs, connections are contemplating reverting to a mile before maybe even stepping up to a mile and a half for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at the end of the season.
“We’ve nothing concrete at the moment. We are still toying with the idea of running him in the Jacques le Marois, but we haven’t decided yet,” said Paul Harley, racing manager to owner Baron Georg von Ullmann.
“He’s very versatile with regard to the ground, so it won’t be that which makes up our mind. We’ve just always had that (the Marois) in the back of our mind as the next race for him and at the present time nothing has changed.”
