More Classic Joy For the Boys In Blue As Shamardal’s Castle Lady Takes the Pouliches

[Wandering Eyes]

Godolphin’s royal blue was the colour at ParisLongchamp on Sunday, with the unbeaten filly Castle Lady (Ire) (Shamardal) adding to the earlier Classic success of Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) when shading the G1 The Emirates Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. Not much had been gleaned from her decisive wins on Chantilly’s Polytrack Mar. 14 and the G3 Prix de la Grotte over this track and trip a month later other than the fact that she possessed class. That was confirmed here, along with an as-yet undiscovered tenacity as this came down to a bare-knuckled fight to the line. Doing too much trapped wide without cover for at least the first three furlongs, the 5-2 favourite was held together by Mickael Barzalona and had enough in reserve to kick to the lead just before the furlong marker. Set upon by ‘TDN Rising Star’ Commes (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) soon after, the homebred rallied gamely to hang on by a nose, with the British runner East (GB) (Frankel {GB}) putting up a taking G1 Prix de Diane trial 1 1/2 lengths away in third. “She’s a lovely filly, but still lacks experience as this was only her third run,” commented trainer Henri-Alex Pantall, who was gaining a deserved slice of the action as one of Sheikh Mohammed’s long-serving faithful. “I feel she won more safely than the margin suggests. I think she idled a bit in front because of that lack of experience and she hadn’t had one take her on before now. I was already thinking of this before the Prix de la Grotte and while I was not worried about the ground, I was more maybe about the trip which is her limit. She’s not in the Diane and anyway I don’t think she’ll stay that trip but she is entered at Royal Ascot in the [June 21 G1] Coronation S., so that’s most probably where she will go next.”

Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France
THE EMIRATES POULE D’ESSAI DES POULICHES-G1, €500,000, ParisLongchamp, 5-12, 3yo, f, 8fT, 1:40.91, hy.
1–CASTLE LADY (IRE), 126, f, 3, by Shamardal
1st Dam: Windsor County, by Elusive Quality
2nd Dam: Ascutney, by Lord At War (Arg)
3rd Dam: Right Word, by Verbatim
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Henri-Alex Pantall; J-Mickael Barzalona. €285,700. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, €338,200. *1/2 to Top Score (GB) (Hard Spun), SW-UAE, SP-Eng & Tur, $422,848. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Commes (Fr), 126, f, 3, Le Havre (Ire)–Leaupartie (Ire), by Stormy River (Fr). O-Gerard Augustin-Normand; B-Franklin Finance SA (FR); T-Jean-Claude Rouget. €114,300.
3–East (GB), 126, f, 3, Frankel (GB)–Vital Statistics (GB), by Indian Ridge (Ire). (€315,000 2yo ’18 GBMBR). O-East Partners; B-Mitaab Abdullah (GB); T-Kevin Ryan. €57,150.
Margins: NO, 1HF, HF. Odds: 2.50, 10.00, 4.10.
Also Ran: Imperial Charm (GB), Matematica (Ger), Watch Me (Fr), Rocques (Fr), Coral Beach (Ire), Suphala (Fr), Silva (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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