Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Mile victor Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein) will make his belated seasonal return in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville Aug. 16, according to Alan Cooper, racing manager to the Niarchos Family.
“Karakontie did a nice piece of work on the racecourse at Chantilly on Monday,” Cooper said. “Jonathan was delighted with him, as was [jockey] Stephane Pasquier. As long as we have a trouble-free run between now and Aug. 16, the plan is for him to make his reappearance in the Jacques le Marois. It will be exciting to see him back on the racecourse. Having not been seen since November, I'm sure there will be some rustiness there, but we will see.”
The Jonathan Pease-trained 4-year-old, who also won last year's G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains, has a repeat at the Breeders' Cup as a long-term aim.
“The main aim is to go back for the Breeders' Cup Mile,” Cooper confirmed. “The ideal scenario would be to run in the Marois, the [G1] Prix du Moulin [de Longchamp Sept. 13] and then go to the Breeders' Cup, but as always we take it race by race.”
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