First Classic For St Mark's Basilica As Diamond Necklace Shines

Staged in relentless driving rain, Sunday's G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches offered a dramatic backdrop to the continued rise of Ballydoyle's brilliant Diamond Necklace who provided St Mark's Basilica with his first Classic.

Sent off the 4-5 favourite returning to the ParisLongchamp track over which she had dominated the Prix Marcel Boussac in the autumn, the regally-bred TDN Rising Star tracked the early pace under cover before being sent down to the rail at the straight's cutaway.

Surging to the front 300 metres from the finish, she was kept up to her work by Ryan Moore to register an authoritative three-length success over fellow TDN Rising Star The Last Dance (Iffraaj). Green Spirit (Kingman) was another 1 1/2 lengths away in third.

“We're delighted–there are so many people involved,” Aidan O'Brien said of the winner, whose sire had won the Poulains on this card in 2021. “She's like her dad, she's improved since last year, she has a great cruise and a lot of natural ability. She's very natural and handled the ground very well.”

It is a measure of how much the rain had got into the track over the course of the afternoon that Diamond Necklace only managed a 36.72 closing three-furlong sectional as opposed to Rayif's relatively rapid 34.72 less than an hour before. The pace-setting Zanthos (Sioux Nation) got to three out in an almost identical time to the Poulains leader Hankelow before it all turned a bit slow-motion and the winner's 11.73 penultimate split was the decisive factor both visually and on the clock.

Diamond Necklace, who was providing her dam's esteemed family with a belated French Classic success after her half-sisters Chicquita (Montjeu) and Philomene (Dubawi) had run second in the 2013 and 2021 runnings of the Prix de Diane, is potentially headed to that Chantilly Classic now.

“She has plenty of natural speed and great ease in the way she does things,” O'Brien added. “I haven't really had the chance yet to speak with Ryan about how far she might stay, but we had it in our minds to either go for the Prix de Diane or the Oaks, depending on what the lads want to do.”

Yann Lerner said of The Last Dance, “For quite a while now, Christophe [Soumillon] has been telling me that we wouldn't beat Diamond Necklace so there you go,” he quipped. “We can say that The Last Dance beat the rest of the field and was top-class! I haven't trained many fillies like her and I really believed in her today.”

“Once again, she was only average coming out of the stalls but she produced a very good performance,” he added. “We'll see how she comes out of the race. The winner will probably head to the Diane and I think she may still be unbeatable there. Every year, we buy yearlings more or less on our own and we're fortunate to have many loyal clients supporting us–over the past few years, Mr Gilibert, Mr Ghrghar, Jean-Michel Lebrun. Sometimes they run for one owner, sometimes another but the important thing is for the stable to be successful and for everything to keep moving forward.”

“For us, this result also means a lot because she was bred by Pierre Talvard [of Haras du Cadran],” he concluded. “I also rode her dam in races myself, so she's quite a special filly to me and she's also the last foal out of her dam. I'm very attached to her.”

Pierre-Yves Bureau said of Green Spirit, “The race unfolded very well. We had a difficult draw in stall 14, which forced us to settle further back than ideal, but she produced a magnificent finishing effort. We are delighted with her performance. The next target could be the Prix de Diane. We'll see how she comes out of the race before making a decision.”

DIAMOND NECKLACE SHINES IN THE FRENCH 1,000 GUINEAS! 🏆

The daughter of St Mark's Basilica streaks clear at Parislongchamp for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore… 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/3dCjaXXdEe

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 10, 2026

Pedigree Notes
Diamond Necklace's remarkable dam Prudenzia (Dansili) boasts six Stakes performers headed by the Galileo's Magic Wand and Montjeu's Chicquita who both won at the highest level with the latter capturing the Irish Oaks. There is also the aforementioned Philomene (Dubawi), who took the G3 Prix Penelope before emulating Chicquita in running second in the Chantilly Classic. Magic Wand has produced the Group-placed Ecstatic (Lord Kanaloa), while Chicquita is responsible for three Stakes performers including Dubawi's G2 Curragh Cup winner Emily Dickinson and American Pharoah's American Oaks runner-up and Irish Oaks third Nicest.

The Listed-winning Prudenzia is a daughter of Fittocks Stud's Platonic (Zafonic) and therefore a half to the Group 3-winning Pacifique (Montjeu), who is the second dam of Night Of Thunder's dual Group-placed three-year-old filly Skydance and Dubawi's G2 Prix Niel third Parachutiste. This illustrious dynasty includes the G2 Debutante Stakes winner and Moyglare Stud Stakes runner-up Vespertilio also by Night Of Thunder and this stable's Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Alexandrova (Sadler's Wells).

Prudenzia's record at the Arqana Sales is outstanding, with Chicquita selling for €600,000 as a yearling, her Galileo progeny Gulliver's Travels, Sinnamary, Truth and Magic Wand as well as Philomene and Invincible Spirit's Craven's Legend all selling for six-figure sums. Another Galileo, Je Ne Regretterien, was a €950,000 purchase at the August Sale and Muhaarar's smart stayer Enemy was €420,000.

After Diamond Necklace had sold for €1.7million at the prestigious Normandy auction in 2024, Prudenzia's filly Marylebone by Vespertilio and Skydance's sire Night Of Thunder sold to Amo Racing last August for a sale-topping €3million.