Shareta bags Oaks gold

Alain de Royer-Dupre took a second British fillies’ Group One of the season back to France after Shareta fought her way through a rainstorm in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks yesterday

It has become increasingly recognised in recent years that the relaxed Chantilly trainer rarely brings runners across the Channel without believing they are candidates for victory and Shareta was up to the task as she held off a sustained effort from The Fugue by a neck.

A little more was known about De Royer-Dupre’s latest challenge than Giofra, who collected the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket in July, as she was second behind Germany’s finest export Danedream in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.