By Tom Frary
With several exciting fillies lined up for their examination, Sunday's G1 The Gurkha Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary at Deauville stands comparison with some of the best recent renewals and should provide major clues for next month's G1 Prix de Diane. No less than four TDN Rising Stars are put to the test in Lady Frankel (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Monroe Bay (Ire) (Makfi {GB}), Coronet (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Sobetsu (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and such is the depth of the competition it would be no surprise if none prevail. Lady Frankel represents the Andre Fabre stable successful a record eight times and Gestut Ammerland's half-sister to Lope de Vega (Ire) looked in need of this rise in trip when third behind Senga (Blame) in the G3 Prix de la Grotte at Chantilly Apr. 16. Her striking debut defeat of Vue Fantastique (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) over a mile at Saint-Cloud Mar. 19 links in with some of her chief rivals and she has plenty of potential for continued improvement.
Vue Fantastique went on to be the same margin behind Goldikova's half-sister Gold Luck (Fr) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), Monroe Bay and Hebah (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) when fourth in the nine-furlong G3 Prix Vanteaux at Chantilly Apr. 9 and it is guesswork as to how this reassembling of that quartet will play out. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Hebah was just a short-head and a head behind and had even more reason to claim ill fortune than the also-compromised Vue Fantastique. “It all went wrong, but she is very well and is a filly I really like,” Hebah's trainer Jean-Claude Rouget told Paris-Turf. “I believe she is capable of getting a good result here.” Coronet beat her subsequent G3 Sandown Classic Trial-winning stablemate Cunco (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), the Listed Newmarket S. scorer Permian (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and G3 Chester Vase runner-up Wings of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}) in the 10-furlong Listed Zetland S. at Newmarket when last seen in October, just 24 hours after Godolphin's Sobetsu flopped in the G1 Fillies' Mile. Only fifth as the joint-favourite for that feature, she remains of interest based on her emphatic 10-length maiden win at that track in September.
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