At His Mercy

As long as the weather does not put a dampener on Deauville in the lead-up to Sunday’s G1 Darley Prix Morny, what looks a substandard renewal should be heading the way of Al Shaqab Racing’s juvenile sensation Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). With just four opponents in the line-up and only one with any pretensions of making him break sweat, the emphatic G2 July S. and G2 Richmond S. winner–who has become a formidable front-running force–faces a potentially easier task than on his last two starts. “If the weather is horrific Shalaa won’t run, but at this stage the plan is to run him,” racing manager Harry Herbert commented. “There are not too many Group 1 races for 2-year-olds about, so it is important to try and win one. He is the stand-out 2-year-old at the moment and he would go there a worthy favorite. He worked very well recently and Frankie was delighted with him, as was the trainer. Physically he is doing very well, which is extremely exciting.”

Al Shaqab also have the July 26 G2 Prix Robert Papin scorer Gutaifan (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), and although he was only a narrow winner winner of that 5 1/2-furlong contest at Maisons-Laffitte last time, the form was boosted significantly by the runner-up Ajaya (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in Saturday’s G2 Gimcrack S. “Gutaifan loves the soft ground, as he proved in the Papin. He is a tough, resolute horse that has been winning by short margins,” Herbert added of the Richard Hannon trainee. “The horse has got a great mentality and it was a decent effort in the Papin and to some degree he has gone under the radar. His form is rock solid; he is a very exciting prospect and deserves to take his chance in the race.”

With only two runners to represent them in this prestigious affair and the best of those being Gerard Augustin-Normand and Elisabeth Vidal’s Tourny (Fr) (Country Reel)–who needs to find plenty of improvement on her narrow win in the G3 Prix de Cabourg over this track and trip Aug. 2–the question must be “where are the French?”