By Tom Frary
A seemingly wide-open renewal of Chantilly's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club ultimately produced the most straightforward outcome as Ballydoyle's Camille Pissarro prevailed as the 12-5 favourite. Drawn against the rail, one of the stable's abundance of Wootton Bassett colts only had to follow the pace aided by the yard's Trinity College taking the shortest route.
Ryan Moore's only complication came in the closing stages as he needed to thread the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner through a gap no more than a horse's width but he had all the momentum with his mount having saved so much energy throughout. At the line, the sire's second Classic winner of 2025 had half a length to spare over Godolphin's Cualificar, Lope De Vega's G3 Prix la Force and G3 Prix de Guiche-winning son of the Oaks heroine Qualify who covered himself in glory from stall 12.
Juddmonte's Detain was a neck away in third, making it a one-three for Wootton Bassett as it had been in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains when Camille Pissarro had been two places behind stablemate Henri Matisse. “He did everything right today and Aidan had him in a beautiful frame of mind,” Moore said after steering his second Prix du Jockey Club winner and first for Ballydoyle. “Fair play to Christophe [Soumillon], he said he'd have no problem with the trip and he showed nice acceleration there. He put them away.”
Camille Pissarro wins the 2025 Prix du Jockey Club! 🏆🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/jDSfeDzVba
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 1, 2025
Only the elite Prix du Jockey-Club winners are able to make a successful winning debut over six furlongs in April of their juvenile season and that is what Camille Pissarro did in the Naas maiden now synonymous with the stable. Like the subsequent Group winners River Tiber and Aesop's Fables before him and as with this year's winner of that particular race, Charles Darwin, he was handed TDN Rising Star status which by the time he appeared for the sixth time was beginning to look misplaced.
All of those outings were at or around six furlongs, which if on pedigree seemed his bag in reality was too sharp for this burgeoning mile-to-a-mile-and-a-quarter prospect. Trying his best to deal with the heat of the precocity tests of the Coventry, Gimcrack and Anglesey, he was finally able to express himself on the Arc card where he outstayed Rashabar, Field Of Gold and Henri Matisse. Like Giant's Causeway all those years ago, he was asked to race against his elders in The Curragh's Listed Gladness Stakes first time up this season and moved forward from that comeback to fill the frame and the eye with his staying effort in the Poulains.
As the overhead showed, the start could not have worked out any better for Ballydoyle with Trinity College allowed to forge a lead and the favourite untroubled as he worked into his slipstream. The Clarehaven duo Bowmark and Detain were on the premises along with Cualificar who was sent forward by William Buick from his wide draw. Where Bowmark was too free carting Tom Marquand to the front, Ryan Moore was enjoying the perfect trip around this circuit and his body language spoke volumes throughout.
Initially looking for a way out to his right with two furlongs remaining, he was forced to switch back to the inner soon after as Bowmark reached the end of his tether and that was where his superior speed at this trip worked in his favour. As Trinity College lugged down to the rail with Bowmark no longer there, Camille Pissarro had to make his presence felt with the surge of the sprinter-miler he had previously been campaigned as. Once through, this was settled there and then with the admirable Cualificar unable to match his pace as the race's most appealing Arc prospect.
“It was very smooth,” Moore added. “They got well spread out and although I was hoping for a little bit of luck where I was, he has so much speed and was able to pick up well. Aidan always had a lot of belief in this horse–we thought he'd win the Coventry last year so to get him to win a Jockey Club is a tremendous effort by all the team. He's a beautiful-looking horse who's always shown plenty and will improve and get better.”
Aidan O'Brien had been swayed to make the step up in trip by Christophe Soumillon, who had ridden the winner in the Lagardere and the Poulains, and was quick to pay tribute to the jockey who was on Detain this time. “Christophe was delighted with him last time and immediately told us to run him in the Jockey-Club,” he said. “He's a miler, but he stays 2,000 metres and that's exactly what you need to win the French Derby.”
“This is a very important race and he's now a very important horse,” he added. “He's a perfect, big, powerful, black horse by Wootton Bassett and over time, he has toughened up. What a ride Ryan gave him–he had a lovely draw and even though he had that and has that class, I don't think Ryan could have waited any longer. He was prepared to wait and ride him to get the distance, as we weren't sure beforehand. All races are open to him, as a mile is no problem and there is the Eclipse.”
William Buick said of the runner-up, “I ended up in a nice position and he did everything I asked of him really. The winner's a good horse, as we all know, and Cualificar will possibly get a little bit further. He'll possibly get an Arc prep now and he does have the quality.”
Godolphin's representative Louise Benard echoed those sentiments. “It's very promising going forward. He's entered in the [July 13 G1] Grand Prix de Paris, but we'll have to see how he comes out of this race and the decision lies with André Fabre,” she said. “William said the horse had a great temperament and was really straightforward during the race, so it's a very nice second place behind a very good colt.”
Juddmonte's Barry Mahon said of Detain, “It was a very good performance and we're really happy. Christophe [Soumillon] told us he believed in his chances for a few strides, so we have a lot to look forward to this season. The 2,000-metre trip suits him perfectly and we could even consider 2,400 metres. He'll have a short break, as he's had a busy start to the season.”
The Aga Khan Studs racing manager Nemone Routh was delighted with the efforts of the fifth and sixth Azimpour and Ridari. “We're very happy with Azimpour. His draw didn't help, but he produced a very good final straight,” she said. “He came home strongly, but probably just a bit too late. I think he was the best finisher from the outside in the whole race. Looking ahead, I think he'll be better on softer ground, so he'll probably be more effective later in the year. He's entered in the Grand Prix de Paris, but we'll have to reassess, because the track is often a bit too firm for him at that time of year.”
She added, “As for Ridari, he doesn't really have any excuses. We're wondering if he truly stays the 2,100 metres. Based on the Poule d'Essai form, he should have been just behind the first few but today, he didn't have the speed to finish off. He lacked something at the end. Maybe the distance is simply too long for him.”
Pedigree Notes
Camille Pissarro, who becomes Wootton Bassett's second Jockey-Club winner after Almanzor in 2016, was in no way guaranteed to stay this far on immediate pedigree given the record of his half-siblings. The chief of those, Lethal Force's G1 Commonwealth Cup-winning sire Golden Horde, was a pure power sprinter while the Pivotal mare Entreat's other black-type winners are Mehmas's Listed Cathedral Stakes scorer Line Of Departure and Dutch Art's Listed Pipalong Stakes winner Exhort.
Entreat, who was campaigned mainly over this trip by Sir Michael Stoute, is a granddaughter of Imagining who produced the multiple Grade I-winning champion Serena's Song whose progeny include this stable's G1 Coronation Stakes heroine Sophisticat and Pattern-race performer Grand Reward by Storm Cat. The family includes another Coronation Cup heroine in Rizeena by Wootton Bassett's sire Iffraaj) and Kingman's G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas-winning sensation Field Of Gold. Entreat's 2-year-old filly by Dark Angel topped the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale when selling for 900,000gns to Henry Lascelles.
Sunday, Chantilly, France
QATAR PRIX DU JOCKEY CLUB-G1, €1,500,000, Chantilly, 6-1, 3yo, c/f, 10 1/2fT, 2:04.40, gd.
1–CAMILLE PISSARRO (IRE), 128, c, 3, by Wootton Bassett (GB)
1st Dam: Entreat (GB), by Pivotal (GB)
2nd Dam: River Saint, by Irish River (Fr)
3rd Dam: Imagining, by Northfields
TDN Rising Star. (1,250,000gns Ylg '23 TATOCT). O-Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Peter M Brant; B-CN Farm Ltd; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. €857,100. Lifetime Record: MGSP-Ire, 10-3-4-1, €1,294,693. *1/2 to Golden Horde (Ire) (Lethal Force {Ire}), G1SW-Eng & G1SP-Fr, $527,144; Line Of Departure (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), SW-Eng, $222,673; and Exhort (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), SW-Eng, $124,356. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Cualificar (GB), 128, c, 3, Lope De Vega (Ire)–Qualify (Ire), by Fastnet Rock (Aus). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Godolphin; T-Andre Fabre. €342,900.
3–Detain (Ire), 128, c, 3, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Nisriyna (Ire), by Intikhab. 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (€340,000 Wlg '22 GOFNO1). O-Juddmonte; B-Swordlestown Little; T-John & Thady Gosden. €171,450.
Margins: HF, NK, HD. Odds: 2.40, 11.00, 6.60.
Also Ran: Trinity College (Ire), Azimpour (Ire), Ridari (Fr), Frankly Good Cen (Fr), Sinileo (Ire), King Of Cities (Ire), Parachutiste (Ire), Tipinso (Fr), Al Aali (Fr), Nitoi, Bowmark (GB), Luther (GB), Curragh Camp (Fr), Leffard (Fr), Heybetli (Ire).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
