With the best fillies and mares engaged in Sunday's main action, Chantilly's G2 Qatar Prix de Royallieu offers an opportunity for those just shy of the top standard to enjoy some limelight 24 hours earlier. George Strawbridge's Listen In (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) has been placed three times in pattern company this term but comes here on the back of a confidence-building win in the Aug. 24 Listed Grand Prix de Clairefontaine and could still be progressing. Godolphin's G3 Prix de Royaumont winner Kitesurf (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was 10th in the G1 Prix de Diane here June 18 and fifth in the G2 Prix de Pomone at Deauville Aug. 6, where she might have found the extra half furlong beyond her.
“Kitesurf returns to the same course and distance as her victory in the Prix de Royaumont earlier in the year,” Godolphin's Lisa-Jane Graffard commented. “She is taking on older fillies again, which she did in the Prix de Pomone, but has every chance of making the frame.” Last year's three-length winner of this, The Juliet Rose (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}), was fourth in the Pomone on her first outing subsequently and there is reason to believe she will peak here.
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