Shes Perfect

PARIS, France -- "Where's Charlie?" The reaction of Francis Graffard, looking for Charlie Fellowes to commiserate before celebrating his own good fortune in being awarded the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, spoke volumes. Not only for the decency of the winning trainer but for the extreme awkwardness surrounding the prolonged stewards' enquiry and ultimate outcome. One man's gain, another's pain. In the case of the demoted Shes Perfect it was not, however, just one man's pain. Almost 60 syndicate owners had joined manager Basher Watts on the pilgrimage to Longchamp in...

Connections of the runners in Sunday's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches will be able to breathe a sigh of relief when they look around the ParisLongchamp paddock and discover that the Godolphin blue is nowhere to be seen. Their domination of the early-season Classics, on both sides of the Atlantic, had to end somewhere, though it may not be in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains which precedes the fillies' equivalent. The red-hot combination that is Charlie Appleby and William Buick will be represented there by last year's G2 Vintage Stakes winner...

DEAUVILLE, France -- Plenty of people will be cheering on the two runners of Charlie Fellowes in the French Classics on Sunday, not least because the trainer has booked Kieran Shoemark for both horses after a tumultuous week for the jockey. But there will be one person hoping perhaps harder than any for dream results for Luther in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Shes Perfect in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and that's Will Douglass, the agent responsible for matching each horse to their respective owners. Douglass is a...