Blast From The Past: Prix Jacques le Marois

Among her fourteen Group/Grade 1 wins, a record for a European-trained horse, it is probably her three victories (also a record) in the Breeders’ Cup Mile for which Goldikova will be best remembered. She also won twice in Britain, at Newmarket in the Falmouth Stakes in 2009 and at Royal Ascot the following season in the Queen Anne Stakes, but it was on home turf at Deauville where she put up the best effort of her career.

Her record over Deauville’s straight mile included four consecutive wins in the Prix Rothschild against other fillies and mares. But the Prix Jacques le Marois, open to all of Europe’s top milers, inevitably takes more winning. There’s only a fortnight between the two races, but Goldikova’s second success in the Prix Rothschild in 2009 was gained without her having anything like a hard race, and she lined up for her first crack at the Jacques le Marois as a four-year-old starting odds-on on the pari-mutuel.

The only other filly in the field was Goldikova’s pacemaker Only Green. Her more noteworthy rivals included Gladiatorus, runaway winner of the Dubai Duty Free early in the year, the Prix d’Ispahan winner Never On Sunday, Virtual who had won the Lockinge and Aqlaam, winner of the Summer Mile at Ascot. Chief representative of the classic generation was the Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Silver Frost.

Goldikova was the one to beat on form, her record by then already including defeats of male opponents in the previous season’s Prix du Moulin and the first of her Breeders’ Cups. But the manner of her victory at Deauville took the breath away as Racehorses recounted:

‘Goldikova was brilliant, taking over on the bridle two furlongs out and quickening right away when shaken up to win by six lengths and five from Aqlaam and Virtual. Silver Frost, Never On Sunday and Gladiatorus all performed well below their best but the official margin of Goldikova’s victory – though the distance looked to be around five lengths, rather than the six returned – hadn’t been equalled since another four-year-old filly Lianga put up a similarly spectacular performance to brush aside a smart field in 1975.’

The going was good to firm and helped Goldikova smash the record time for the race set twelve years earlier by Spinning World by almost a second. ‘There have been few better performances by a filly at a mile in Timeform’s experience than Goldikova’s in the Jacques le Marois’ added Racehorses of 2009 in which she was given a rating of 133.

Among those to rank at least as highly was Miesque who became the first dual winner of the Jacques le Marois in 1987 and 1988. Goldikova’s trainer Freddie Head rode Miesque in all her races but said more than once that he considered Goldikova the better filly. Goldikova’s three wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile was one more than Miesque achieved but Goldikova found one too good both times when bidding to win the Jacques le Marois again. Soft ground scuppered her chances when beaten by the 2000 Guineas winner Makfi in 2010, while another three-year-old, the filly Immortal Verse, got the better of her in her final season.