Duke Of Marmalade lords it over Ganay rivals

DUKE Of Marmalade emulated former stablemate Dylan Thomas as he opened his season with a victory in the Group One Prix Ganay at Longchamp yesterday.

Aidan O’Brien’s four-year-old turned in a string of high-class performances last term, including finishing second to Dylan Thomas in the Irish Champion Stakes, but he failed to get his head in front at the highest level.

However, he righted that statistic with a useful victory over German raider Saddex in the 10-and-a-half-furlong feature.

Jockey Johnny Murtagh made his move two furlongs from home, pushing to the front as Saddex set off in pursuit.

Despite the German runner looking a big danger inside the distance, Duke Of Marmalade held off the challenge of the runner up by half a length.

Richard Fahey’s Anna Pavlova was a late withdrawal along with O’Brien’s second string Red Rock Canyon while favourite Zambezi Sun finished last of the six runners.

Duke Of Marmalade is now set to follow the same route as Dylan Thomas with O’Brien targeting the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on May 25 for his charge.

He said: “He was operated on at the beginning of the year and he has been working so much better since then and has been very pleasing in all his work.

“He may run in the Tattersalls Gold Cup now and obviously he is very versatile as he can go between a mile and a mile and three furlongs.”

Coral responded to Duke Of Marmalade’s success by cutting him to 8-1 from 16-1 for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot while he is now 10-1 from 25-1 for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Proviso’s Classic hopes had suffered a blow earlier on the card when she finished only third in the Prix Vanteaux.

Andre Fabre’s filly was runner-up in the Fillies’ Mile at Ascot last year and Stephane Pasquier was always prominent as she tackled nine furlongs for the first time.

However, Proviso could find no extra inside the final furlong as Belle Allure and Wait And See challenged down the middle of the track.

The former prevailed by one and a half lengths for Davy Bonilla while Proviso was a further two lengths back in third.

Fabre and Pasquier had gained some compensation in the previous race though, with Coastal Path running out a convincing length-and-a-half-winner of the Prix de Barbeville.