Miss France bounced back to her best to provide master trainer Andre Fabre with his first Qipco 1000 Guineas at Newmarket yesterday.
A desperately disappointing sixth on her return to action in the Prix Imprudence at Maisons-Laffitte, she was even removed from the betting for the Classic by some bookmakers at that point.
However, confidence returned in recent days and Maxime Guyon sat just off the pace before kicking on before the dip. She just held off Olly Stevens' Lightning Thunder – the filly she beat in the Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket in September – by a neck. The Saeed bin Suroor-trained Ihtimal was third.
Trainer Andre Fabre said: “I got confident in the last 10 days after her bad (seasonal) debut. She worked brilliantly, after that I told the owner we’d go to Newmarket.
“There was a question mark after her first run this year but I knew that race wasn’t to be believed. I was a bit perturbed when she hit the front so early as she idles.
“I think the best filly I’ve ever trained was Golden Lilac, she was an an explosive filly, this filly is now more relaxed. It wasn’t bothering me that I hadn’t won this race, otherwise I’d have tried many times before.”
Guyon added: “The plan was to be at the back but she jumped really good, she relaxed really well and showed a good turn of foot. She felt like a different filly from the Imprudence but there was no pace in that race.
"She's a very, very good filly, and maybe is the best at the moment."
Classic compensation
Kingman could yet head to the Curragh later this month in a bid for Classic compensation. John Gosden's colt suffered the first defeat of his career in Saturday's Qipco 2,000 Guineas when half a length behind 40/1 chance Night Of Thunder, having soundly beaten Richard Hannon's charge in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury last month.
Kingman went off the 6/4 favourite but found himself in the smaller group up the far rail when the field split, which had left Gosden frustrated. Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for owner Khalid Abdullah, said: “Kingman’s fine – he trotted up this morning. We’ll certainly look at the Irish Guineas.” The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas is on May 24th.
Royal Ascot is likely to be next on the agenda for Night Of Thunder. The colt does hold an entry in the Investec Derby and while he is a son of Dubawi, he is out of a Galileo mare which offers some hope of seeing out a mile and a half at Epsom.
However, Hannon feels the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot is a more likely target
