Back to the Drawing Board

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD 
Few would have expected that at this point in the season the sensational Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) would be winless and under scrutiny, but today’s G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille at Longchamp is very much a retrieval mission for the pride of Al Shaqab Racing. So impressive when brushing aside Wild Coco (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) in this contest 12 month ago, she produced a performance of stellar merit when slamming Orfevre (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe three weeks later. Beaten by Cirrus des Aigles (Fr) (Even Top {Ire}) in the G1 Prix Ganay on her return Apr. 27, she was all at sea on Royal Ascot’s lively surface when third in a second try at 10 furlongs in the June 18 G1 Prince of Wales’s S. Given some tender loving care and treatment in the interim by Criquette Head-Maarek and reunited with Thierry Jarnet here, she has the chance to revive her career ahead of a potential defence of her crown in three weeks’ time. “She was very sore in her back and did not run her race [at Royal Ascot],” the owners’ Racing Advisor Harry Herbert told PA Sport. “That is how brilliant she is, she was only beaten a couple of lengths that day but she looks amazing now. She is physically blossoming and, like a lot of fillies, this is the time of year when they start to blossom and she is coming to the fore. Criquette has warned everyone that the Vermeille is not the Arc, so she may be slightly short of fitness on Sunday. Whatever she does, she will come on for that run. She is a very brilliant filly. I have no doubt she has trained on and can be a serious contender in the Arc.” 
Facing her are two classy representatives of the John Gosden stable, which has carried all before it so far this term, in Sultanina (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) and Pomology (Arch). The latter, who carries an unbeaten record into this for Princess Haya of Jordan, had her stable companion back in second when winning the G2 Lancashire Oaks on good-to-soft ground at Haydock July 5 before Normandie Stud’s Sultanina captured the G1 Nassau S. over 10 furlongs at Goodwood Aug. 2. His Highness The Aga Khan’s Dolniya (Fr) (Azamour {Ire}) is on a roll and bids to extend the record sequence of seven wins for her trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre on the back of a success in the G2 Prix de Malleret over this trip at Saint-Cloud June 29.