Less than 24 hours after Desert Crown’s resounding Derby victory at Epsom on Saturday came a classic performance with perhaps even more wow factor as Vadeni landed the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club in superb style at Chantilly.
The Aga Khan-owned colt turned the €1.5 million French Derby into a rout, beating El Bodegon by five lengths with jockey Christophe Soumillon easing down for much of the last furlong.
Godolphin’s 9-4 favourite Modern Games tried to overcome a wide draw by going to the front and making most of the running but ultimately had to settle for third. Aidan O’Brien’s pair, Ivy League and The Acropolis, never figured with a chance and finished out of the money.
Vadeni, a son of Churchill, started an 8-1 shot on the back of a Group Three success on his previous start but looked a rare talent such was the startling ease with which he travelled throughout.
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“He has just taken off there and it’s a fair few years since I’ve seen that in the Jockey Club,” Vedani’s trainer Jean Claude Rouget reported afterwards. The French man also indicated Irish racegoers could get a chance to see Vadeni first-hand this year although not in the €1 million Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby later this month.
Instead, Rouget nominated a short summer break before a return at Deauville and then a tilt at September’s Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, a race he won with Almanzor in 2016.
“Almanzor winning there is one of my best memories,” he commented.
Rouget didn’t appear convinced about targeting the Arc with Vadeni, who was given 8-1 quotes for France’s greatest race.
“I think we will do more the Almanzor programme (10 furlongs) but it’s a bit early to be definitive. The Irish Champion is a smashing race and there’s Deauville if the ground is not too soft,” he said.
If Vadeni’s performance, a fifth French Derby for Rouget, and a fourth for Soumillon, was an eye-opener for many then Desert Crown lived up to his billing as an unbeaten 5-2 favourite at Epsom.
He was a sixth Derby victor for Sir Michael Stoute, 41 years after his first with the legendary Shergar. Stoute is now the oldest trainer ever to win the race. It was a win on just his second Derby ride for 35-year-old jockey Richard Kingscote.
Bookmaker reaction to the weekend classic action appears to indicate that neither winner will make a trip to the Curragh Derby. Instead, the unlucky Epsom third Westover has been installed an early 5-2 favourite with some firms to land Ireland’s premier classic later this month.
The Curagh Derby’s traditional role as a potential clash between the winners at Epsom and Chantilly has declined in recent years, particularly on the back of the French decision in 2005 to cut the Jockey Club trip to an extended 10 furlongs.
Nevertheless, the Curragh chief executive Brian Kavanagh said on Sunday: “We will get working on it now over the next couple of days and we will be keen to get as many as possible from either race over. They were two very impressive winners.
“We’ve been on to the Stoute team but it’s more in terms of congratulations rather than plans. There were some good horses in both races so that’s what we’ll be at, trying to get as many as possible to come here.”
Westover is one colt the Curragh team look like being able to bank on according to his trainer Ralph Beckett who a day later was rueing the draw that put his horse in stall two.
Jockey Rob Hornby met interference in the straight when trying to launch his challenge and just missed out on second spot after being switched.
“I think perhaps second got away. Whether we could justifiably think we’d have won, I think that’s a leap of faith,” he reported. “I’d like to think he would have bustled up the winner certainly, and made the winner work harder for it.
“The draw obviously was a negative, purely statistically. That pricked our balloon slightly at the time and I think with a better draw he wouldn’t have got stuck down on the fence. That’s life, isn’t it?
“He pulled out very well this morning and he was kicking the door down when he was fed, so I would imagine he’ll go to the Curragh in three weeks’ time.
“The Irish Derby is the obvious race for him. Rory Mahon, who ran Ferrans Stud for Juddmonte for 40 years, every time he saw me in the last six months he’s said ‘that horse will suit the Curragh you know’. I think he’s right.
“We’ll concentrate on the Curragh first and see what we do after that. I’ll put him in the King George on Tuesday and we’ll see how we go,” Beckett added.
There are a pair of bank holiday Monday cards in Ireland with flat action in Gowran and Listowel racing over jumps. Jessica Harrington’s runners are hitting a run of form and both of her hopefuls at Gowran should be big players.
Paris Peacock will try to break her duck at the fifth time of asking in a auction fillies maiden. Runner-up to Grecian Slipper at Navan on her last start, first-time cheek-pieces are applied this time while Rock Of Candy won’t have to progress much from a course and distance second last time to figure in the concluding handicap.
