Prix Rothschild: Usherette can lead the way

A month of top-quality racing at Deauville starts this weekend with the first of five Group 1 contests there in the coming weeks being the Prix Rothschild on Sunday. This contest over the straight mile brings together ten fillies and mares featuring a mix of ages and nationalities.

A quartet of three-year-old fillies are headed by the recent Falmouth Stakes winner Roly Poly. She’s had plenty of racing for Aidan O’Brien but has improved with each race this year, twice finishing runner-up to her very smart stable-companion Winter in the Irish 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes. The Falmouth gave Roly Poly the opportunity to shine in Winter’s absence, but that was also a contest – in marked contrast to this one – lacking much in the way of older talent. An enterprising ride from Ryan Moore no doubt helped too at Newmarket, and this looks a stiffer task for Roly Poly.

Arabian Hope was a good third behind Roly Poly in the Falmouth, the first defeat in four starts this year for the Saeed bin Suroor-trained filly who had previously completed a hat-trick under Josephine Gordon in a listed race at York against older rivals. Ridden by Christophe Soumillon this time, she may have more to offer but finds herself in a more competitive contest here, along with the French-trained pair of three-year-olds Via Ravenna and Dame du Roi. Via Ravenna has had only four starts, winning her first two, including the Prix Imprudence, but she was only seventh in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches over this course and distance (a place behind Roly Poly) and is back up in trip after a try at sprinting last time. Dame du Roi ended her two-year-old season with a Group 3 win at Maisons-Laffitte but is exposed as just useful and finished second in a listed race at the same track on her belated return earlier this month.

There’s a lot more strength in depth among the older fillies and mares in the line-up, no fewer than three of whom were successful at Royal Ascot last year. Qemah followed up her Coronation Stakes win in last year’s Rothschild and again comes here on the back of a win at the Royal meeting, this time in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes. A free-going sort with a fine turn of foot, Qemah seems sure to go well in defence of her title, though things might have been different at Ascot if the previous year’s Duke of Cambridge winner Usherette had enjoyed a better run. As it was, Usherette was a denied run on the stand rail entering the last couple of furlongs and had to be switched before finishing well to be beaten around a length into third behind Qemah. Highly regarded enough by Andre Fabre to be pitched into this race two years ago after winning her first two starts, Usherette has much stronger credentials at this level now, and wouldn’t be winning a Group 1 out of turn if enjoying better luck this time.

John Gosden won this twice with Elusive Kate and fields an interesting filly in Persuasive who hasn’t been seen since losing her unbeaten record in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown last September. She progressed really well at three when her wins included the Sandringham Handicap at Royal Ascot and the Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown. Persuasive found only Alice Springs too good in Ireland, with a below-form Qemah just behind her in third, and while open to further improvement, Persuasive’s lengthy absence is the obvious concern against some race-fit rivals.

Persuasive’s former stable-companion Furia Cruzada is also in the line-up. A Group 2 winner on dirt in Dubai early in the year, she finished down the field in the latest Duke of Cambridge (runner-up in 2016) on her first start for her French stable, while Siyoushake, a dual Group 3 winner last year, is another who’s had her limitations exposed in better company, including when fifth behind Qemah here twelve months ago.

The Roger Varian-trained mare Realtra completes the field but this is a hotter contest than she’s used to and has been running over seven furlongs of late, though gained her second win of the year in the Brownstown Stakes at Fairyhouse earlier this month.

Recommendation:

Back Usherette in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville