Onwards and Upwards

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS 
Stall Donna’s Dartagnan D’Azur (Fr) (Slickly {Fr}) recorded a career high when taking the G3 Prix Andrew Baboin at Lyon Parilly two weeks ago, and the 5-year-old entire will look to continue to climb the ladder when shipping to Italy for the first time in today’s G1 Premio Roma GBI Racing. The French resident has had a busy 11-race campaign this year, but showed he could be rounding into the form of his life when besting the smart Triple Threat (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) in the Listed Prix de Boulogne at Longchamp Sept. 4 two starts prior to his breakthrough win. In between, he was third in Strasbourg’s Listed Grand Prix de la Region Alsace Sept. 28. The seasoned performer will have to deal with a local contingent that includes Duca Di Mantova (GB) (Manduro {Ger}). That 5-year-old gelding, who bested Refuse to Bobbin (Ire) (Refuse to Bend {Ire}) in a listed race in December, put up a career best when second only to Dylan Mouth (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) in the G1 Gran Premio Del Jockey Club Oct. 19. Priore Philip (Ity) (Dane Friendly {GB}) is likely the class of the field, and the 3-year-old–who has finished off the board only on his debut–added a second Group 1 to his 2013 G1 Gran Criterium score in the Sept. 28 G1 Premio Vittorio di Capua. Priore Philip will be racing beyond 7 1/2 furlongs for the first time.