Deauville August Kicks Off with Rothschild Treat

[Wandering Eyes]

Deauville's August-long Festival starts on Sunday, with the G1 Prix Rothschild offering a tantalising clash between some of Ballydoyle and Francis-Henri Graffard's leading ladies. The latter gets ready to saddle White Birch Farm's acquisition Matilda (Soldier Hollow) for the first time following her emphatic 6 1/2-length victory against the colts in the German 2,000 Guineas at Cologne in May. She is joined by Princesse Zahra Aga Khan's Mandanaba (Ghaiyyath), who is back at the mile over which she finished third in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches after looking to run out of stamina in the Diane.

Aidan O'Brien said after the Falmouth second of January (Kingman) that her time is coming around and she has last year's Prix Marcel Boussac third Exactly (Frankel) to aid her cause, which could be both good and bad news for Wathnan Racing's Duke of Cambridge winner Crimson Advocate (Nyquist), who had to turn around the Falmouth form but who will benefit from a strong pace.

Two others to consider are Mary Slack's Wolverhampton and Leicester winner Pina Sonata (Pinatubo) and Peter Bradley's G2 Prix de Sandringham winner Godspeed (Hello Youmzain), but for what its worth six of the last seven winners of this have been favourite.

The card's two juvenile Pattern races are the seven-furlong G3 Sky Sports Racing Prix Six Perfections and the G3 Prix de Cabourg over six, with the former hosting the Aga Khan Studs-owned 'TDN Rising Star' Narissa (Siyouni) who opened her account by eight lengths on debut at Saint-Cloud in June. The Wertheimers' Green Spirit (Kingman) is unbeaten in two starts at that track and should make things interesting along with the Weston and Reeves representative Balantina (Ten Sovereigns) who was third in the Albany for Donnacha O'Brien. There is a hot favourite in the Cabourg, with Chauvigny Global Equine's dual winner Shiri (Mehmas) looking to extend the Graffard dominion this year.

Garden Of Eden Has Wide Draw To Deal With In The Diana

In Dusseldorf's G1 Henkel-Preis der Diana, Ballydoyle's G2 Ribblesdale Stakes winner Garden Of Eden (Saxon Warrior) has to overcome stall 12 but has at least fared better than one of the leading domestic hopes in Gestut Park Wiedingen's Santagada (Soldier Hollow) who is in unlucky 13. Successful in Cologne's G3 Schwarzgold-Rennen and the G3 Hamburger Stuten Meile, the granddaughter of the 2002 Diana heroine Salve Regina and relative of her Deutsches Derby-winning brothers Samum and Schiaperelli has the pedigree to lift off over this extra three furlongs.

Godolphin's Spirited Style (Sea The Stars), a daughter of Wild Illusion (Dubawi), comes in off a win in Newmarket's Listed Aphrodite Stakes and has drawn the rail in one, while the G3 Diana-Trial winner Lady Charlotte (Golden Horn) is in stall six back amongst her own sex having finished ninth tackling the colts in the Deutsches Derby last month. Of the live outsiders, Santagada's trainer Peter Schiergen also has Gestut Ebbesloh's intriguing Listed Mulheim Diana Trial scorer Winnyzja (Sottsass) in stall five and Andreas Wohler is represented by Stiftung Gestut Fahrhof's Raposa (Frankel). She booked her ticket by landing this track's Listed Diana Trial last month, but has stall 15 to hinder her chances of providing her trainer with a seventh renewal.

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