Prix de Diane preview: Luminate can put her name in lights

Thirteen fillies have been declared for Sunday’s Prix de Diane, the French version of the Oaks run over ten and a half furlongs. No fewer than eight of the field have already been successful in pattern company and few can be confidently ruled out in an open contest, while runners from both Britain and Ireland add international interest to the line-up.

Happy result for Ballydoyle?

Aidan O’Brien is yet to win a Chantilly classic – either a Prix de Diane or a Prix du Jockey Club – a rare gap in his collection of Group 1 prizes, but aims to put that right with Happily. The daughter of Galileo boasts classic form this season as she has finished third in the 1000 Guineas at both Newmarket and the Curragh, on both occasions shaping as though a mile is on the short side for her. She thrived on her racing at two when the pick of her efforts came when beating colts on this course in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. That form looks better still now, as she had subsequent Derby winner Masar back in third, while runner-up Olmedo went on to win the Poule d’Essai des Poulains.

Hopes of a first British success since Star of Seville’s victory for John Gosden in 2015 lie with Laurens, already a dual Group 1 winner for Karl Burke. A game front-runner, she ended her two-year-old season by winning the Fillies’ Mile by a nose and then finished just in front of Happily when runner-up to Billesdon Brook in the 1000 Guineas. Since then, she has gained another hard-fought success when a short-head winner of the Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp over a mile and a quarter.

Stablemates go Head to Head

Freddie Head won the Prix de Diane four times as a jockey and has two good chances of training the winner for the first time, saddling leading contenders With You and Luminate. Both fillies won their two starts last year, each of them successful in a Group 3 contest. With You apparently took a while to come to hand this spring but made Laurens pull out all the stops when running her close in the Saint-Alary and can be expected to progress again.

A talented, unbeaten filly who looks to relish a battle - the Prix de Diane could be next for @HighclereRacing's Luminate following this G3 Prix Penelope success: pic.twitter.com/Yx3oG1nkDU

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 1, 2018

Luminate made a successful reappearance in the Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud and was unlucky to lose her unbeaten record in the Prix Cleopatre over the same course and distance later in May. Hemmed in for much of the straight, Luminate got clear too late before going down by just a short neck to Castellar but was then demoted to fifth for causing interference on her way through. She’ll have the assistance of Frankie Dettori for the first time on Sunday.

Trip to suit Godolphin filly

Happily isn’t the only filly in the field who looks like being well suited by the step up from a mile. Musis Amica won her first two starts for Andre Fabre and Godolphin, including the Prix de la Grotte at Longchamp on heavy ground on her reappearance. However, she found things happening too quickly under much less testing conditions when sent off favourite for the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches there last time. Still last a furlong out, she finished with a flourish to be beaten just over a length in sixth and, from a middle-distance family, looks to be crying out for this sort of test. Prix Vanteaux winner Barkaa was a place in front of Musis Amica in the same race and she too will be suited by the step up in trip having already won twice over a mile and a quarter at two.

Most successful owner

The Aga Khan has won the Diane a record seven times and bids for another win with the potentially exciting Shahnaza. She hasn’t been so highly tried as some of these fillies, but that’s a profile she shares with some of her owner’s past winners trained by Alain de Royer Dupre, and there was a lot to like about the way she quickened to win a listed race in very ready fashion at Longchamp last time.

#Arrivée #R1ParisLongchamp Sous la selle de @CSoumillon Shahnaza remporte avec aisance le Prix de la Seine (Listed) pic.twitter.com/zNwqqFL70J

— Equidia (@equidia) May 6, 2018

The other filly in the field with plenty of scope for progress is the twice-raced Homerique who has been supplemented. She made a winning debut in a maiden at Chantilly in April by eight lengths and looked like following up in the Prix Penelope until unable to hold Luminate’s late rally.

Conclusion

Of the remainder, Amazing Lips, promoted second in the Cleopatre, and Soustraction, third in the Saint-Alary, will have to turn the tables on rivals who’ve already beaten them, while this looks too big a jump in class for the other two Lady Athena and Assonance. Happily and Laurens set the standard as Group 1 winners, but there’s no shortage of potential among the home-trained fillies and Luminate, who should be unbeaten, can become Dettori’s third winner of the Prix de Diane.

Recommended bet:

Back Luminate in Sunday’s Prix de Diane at Chantilly