Siyouni’s Sottsass Downs Persian King In the Jockey Club

[Wandering Eyes]

The Classic double was not to be on Sunday as the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains hero Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) succumbed to White Birch Farm’s Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the G1 QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly. So impressive when scoring by 6 1/2 lengths in testing ground in the 10-furlong Listed Prix de Suresnes here May 2, Sottsass was settled in mid-division by Cristian Demuro and had dead aim on Persian King as that 9-5 favourite took over with two furlongs remaining. Swamping him almost a furlong later, the 13-1 chance powered away to score by two lengths in course-record time, with Motamarris (Ire) (Le Havre {Ire}) the same margin away in third. The winning time was an astounding 2:02.90, the fastest Jockey Club by almost three seconds since it was chopped to this trip from a mile and a half in 2005 and the fastest ever race run at this track over this distance by more than a second.

Jean-Bernard Roth, the long-time assistant to Rouget, revealed that the absent trainer had suffered a minor stroke on Saturday night and watched the race from his hospital bed. “This is a long-term job and we always believed in the horse who was well-chosen at the sales and has been improving regularly,” he said. “This is really a great moment and a great team effort and everyone has to be congratulated. The jockey did a superb job and also the track management who have provided us with a superb course for the day. It was a great performance and I know he beat the track record, but sometimes this is something that we don’t like to hear too much because then there is talk about long recovery or problems, so we will have to wait and see how he comes out of the race. M. Rouget will decide his future.”

Sunday, Chantilly, France
QIPCO PRIX DU JOCKEY CLUB-G1, €1,500,000, Chantilly, 6-2, 3yo, c/f, 10 1/2fT, 2:02.90 (NTR), gd.
1–SOTTSASS (FR), 128, c, 3, by Siyouni (Fr)
1st Dam: Starlet’s Sister (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Premiere Creation (Fr), by Green Tune
3rd Dam: Allwaki, by Miswaki
1ST GROUP WIN; 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (€340,000 Ylg ’17 ARAUG). O-White Birch Farm; B-Ecurie des Monceaux (FR); T-Jean-Claude Rouget; J-Cristian Demuro. €857,100. Lifetime Record: 5-3-0-0, €904,800. *1/2 to Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), Ch. Turf Female-US, MGISW-US, GSW & G1SP-Fr, $2,575,603; and My Sister Nat (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}), GSW-Fr, $104,972. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Persian King (Ire), 128, c, 3, Kingman (GB)–Pretty Please (Ire), by Dylan Thomas (Ire). O-Godolphin & Ballymore Thoroughbred Ltd; B-Dayton Investments (Breeding) Ltd (IRE); T-Andre Fabre. €342,900.
3–Motamarris (Ire), 128, c, 3, Le Havre (Ire)–Thamarat (GB), by Anabaa. O-Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum; B-Shadwell Estate Company Ltd (IRE); T-Freddy Head. €171,450.
Margins: 2, 2, 3/4. Odds: 13.60, 1.80, 8.80.
Also Ran: Cape of Good Hope (Ire), Roman Candle (GB), Rockemperor (Ire), Mohawk (Ire), Surfman (GB), Kick On (GB), Raise You (Ire), Joe Francais (Fr), Slalom (Fr), Zarkallani (Fr), Blenheim Palace (Ire), Starmaniac (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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