Sunday 9 April 2017
Aga Khan Studs sires were in fine form on Sunday at Chantilly, with sons of SEA THE STARS taking the first two places in the Gr.2 Prix d’Harcourt, and fillies by Redoute’s Choice, Makfi and SEA THE STARS completing the podium in the Gr.3 Prix Vanteaux.
Already a winner of the Gr. 3 Prix Exbury on his seasonal debut, CLOTH OF STARS demonstrated that he will be a force to be reckoned with in top-class middle-distance races this year with a brilliant performance to win the Prix d’Harcourt. Godolphin’s four-year-old son of SEA THE STARS and Strawberry Fledge (Kingmambo) was winning his fifth Group race and he now has plenty of options in Group 1 races in France and abroad.
In second place, beaten a neck, another son of Gilltown Stud resident SEA THE STARS, MEKHTAAL, lost nothing in defeat. This representative of Al Shaqab Racing was returning to the track after a seven month break. The winner of the Gr. 2 Prix Hocquart last season, this colt is now likely to be aimed towards the Gr. 1 Prix Ganay.
The Aga Khan Studs’ partnership with Arrowfield Studs, which saw champion Australian sire Redoute’s Choice spend two seasons at the Haras de Bonneval in Normandy, was to the fore in the Prix Vanteaux. This Group 3 contest was won by the Wertheimer Family’s GOLD LUCK, a Redoute’s Choice half-sister to the exceptional Goldikova. The beautifully-bred GOLD LUCK, is a smart representative of the first European crop by Redoute’s Choice and she is entered in all the French fillies’ Classics.
Second-placed MONROE BAY is a daughter of former Haras de Bonneval sire Makfi, and third-placed HEBAH completed a clean sweep in the Prix Vanteaux for Aga Khan Studs’ stallions, as she is by SEA THE STARS.
Updated on 11/04/2017.
