Favorites prevailed in the French Guineas races Sunday at Parislongchamp, but one just barely, the other only by dint of a stewards’ decision.
Henri Matisse, 2-1 favorite for the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, looked when he split horses with a little more than a furlong to race like he’d win by daylight, but whether Henri Matisse’s run flagged, he idled after making the lead, or the colt Jonquil found something more after being passed, Jonquil came back strongly and missed by a diminishing head.
The scantest of margins separated Shes Perfect and 4-5 favorite Zarigana in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, but after winning the photo finish, Shes Perfect lost her Guineas in the stewards’ room. With about 100 yards remaining, Shes Perfect and jockey Kieran Shoemark drifted left, pushing Exactly out into the path of closing Zarigana. Exactly brushed with Zarigana, who lost a touch of momentum – enough, stewards decided after a claim of foul by jockey Mickael Barzalona, to merit disqualification. The disqualification was not without controversy, and Shes Perfect’s trainer, Charlie Fellowes, said the result would have stood in England.
Front-running Shes Perfect lost to Zarigana by a neck last month in their Guineas prep, and narrowed the margin Sunday, holding on stubbornly after making the pace. Zarigana, confidently ridden from mid-pack in the outside line of fillies, came under strong urging only with about 1 1/2 furlongs remaining and, but while she might have won without being marginally fouled, it would not have been by much.
Zarigana, an Aga Khan homebred trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, is by Siyouni out of Zarkamiya, by Frankel. She and Shes Perfect might meet again next month at Royal Ascot in the Coronation Stakes, a one-turn mile like the Pouliches. Third-place Mandanaba, another Graffard trainee, led in midstretch but couldn’t quicken with the top two, running well in defeat after winning her first two starts over longer trips. She’s likely headed to the Prix de Diane, the French Oaks, at 1 5/16 miles.
Henri Matisse won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November and got in a French Guineas prep last month in Ireland, and a strong, contested pace turned the Poulains into a race that suited him. Jockey Ryan Moore, saving ground around the turn, came strongly past the 400-meter marker and had all the juice taking the lead in the final furlong. His trainer, Aidan O’Brien – who won this race for the sixth time – said afterward that Henri Matisse does not like to lead for long, and that is how it looked Sunday. No sooner had Henri Matisse surged in front than Jonquil, who’d stuck much closer to the strong tempo than the winner, jumped back into the fray, nearly tagging the favorite on the line.
Camille Pissarro, another O’Brien charge, came wide and late to finish third, one length behind Jonquil. Henri Matisse, by Wootton Bassett out of Immortal Verse, by Pivotal, could race next in the one-mile St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
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