Deauville: Woodshauna flies residence to land Prix Jean Prat spoils for Graffard | Racing Information
Francis-Henri Graffard’s superb season continued at Deauville as Woodshauna claimed an exhilarating Prix Jean Prat.
A winner at Group Three stage at Chantilly on his most up-to-date begin, the colt was subsequently bought by American businessman John Stewart for £625,000 on the Goffs London Sale on the eve of Royal Ascot and instantly noticed the shape boosted when Chantilly runner-up Time For Sandals received the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
Christopher Head’s Maranoa Charlie, who was fourth at Chantilly, led the sphere alongside this time in his first outing within the colors of Yorkshire-based Bond Thoroughbreds, with Christophe Soumillon in no rush as he anchored Woodshauna in rear.
Maranoa Charlie refused to lie down because the race started to develop, with Charlie Appleby’s Shadow Of Gentle and Aidan O’Brien’s The Lion In Winter making their problem on both facet.
Nevertheless, none had been ending as strongly as Woodshauna, who weaved his approach to the entrance in time to steer residence a French one-two, with Maranoa Charlie holding on for second, The Lion In Winter third and Shadow Of Gentle fourth, with half a size masking all of them. Cosmic 12 months dropped away tamely having appeared a menace a furlong out.
Graffard stated: “He is a stunning horse and his kind his sturdy. We determined to skip Ascot and I needed the horse to be sturdy for this race and it labored out.
“He has a variety of pace and I feel seven furlongs is the max for him. We’ll should see what we do with him, whether or not we drop him again in distance or if we follow seven, but it surely’s a giant step up at the moment. He is a stunning horse with an ideal angle and he is bettering bodily.
“He was given an excellent trip by Christophe and took the best lead on a regular basis.”
He added: “Each time I’ve stepped him up in school he has responded nicely. I feel if he was nearer within the Djebel he would have been very harmful and on that kind and my perception I used to be not scared at the moment.
“I am so completely happy for John [Stewart] who’s such a stunning, enthusiastic man for the trade and he has stored religion in me and let me do what I feel is finest for the horses and is rewarded at the moment with a pleasant win.
“The Prix Maurice de Gheest may undoubtedly be on the playing cards and I feel he can be higher dropped again in distance. I’ll see how he comes out of this however that could possibly be a race we goal.”
In the meantime, the Bond Thoroughbreds workforce are relishing seeing Maranoa Charlie run on residence soil at York after their current buy simply didn’t make all within the Group One function.
“It is an ideal run to be second in a Group One, wonderful. It was clearly a giant buy and it seems like we made the best selection,” Charlie Bond of Bond Thoroughbreds advised Sky Sports activities Racing.
“It is our first horse in France and the final time we had been right here Transfer In Time received the Prix de l’Abbaye [in 2014], so we like coming to France.
“Christopher trains him and we’ll observe his steering. I feel he comes residence to York for the Metropolis of York Stakes and we at all times stated that this was stepping stone to that race, but when Christopher decides one thing else, we’ll observe his steering, it is all the way down to him, we do not prefer to intervene.”