Charyn super impressive in Prix Jacques le Marois
The Roger Varian-trained Charyn (4 c Dark Angel – Futoon by Kodiac) stamped home his claim to be considered Europe’s best miler with a thoroughly authoritative victory in Sunday’s Prix Jacques le Marois (Gr 1, 1600m) at Deauville.
Having been a Group 2 winner as a juvenile, and placed at the highest level as a three-year-old, the son of Dark Angel (Acclamation) has displayed huge improvement as a four-year-old.
Beginning his campaign with an easy Listed success, the entire has since won the Sandown Mile (Gr 2, 1m), finished runner-up in the Lockinge Stakes (Gr 1, 1m), and comfortably won the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) during June’s Royal Ascot meeting.
Lining up as favourite for Sunday’s Group 1 event in the familiar silks of owner Nurlan Bizakov, Charyn was always handy under Silvestre De Sousa and, having taken up the lead with over a furlong left to race, powered clear of his seven rivals to beat Metropolitan (Zarak) by three lengths.
Inspiral (Frankel), who had the services of Ryan Moore for the first time in her attempt to win the contest for the third successive year, was very slow out of the stalls but made up ground on the outside to eventually come for third, beaten three and a quarter lengths by the dominant winner.
“He is a great horse, he seems to be getting better and better,” said the winning trainer.
“He is very laid-back at home, he carries a lot of condition. I think most times I have sent him to the races, I wonder if I have done enough with him. He carries a good middle but he has a great mind and he is very relaxed. He makes my job easy.
“Silvestre is striking up a good relationship with him and I hope he stays sound and we can enjoy him for a little while longer. He is a super horse.”
Reflecting on future targets and a potential trip across the Atlantic for the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Gr 1, 8f) for which Charyn is now guaranteed a starting berth, Varian said: “It is an option – I am not sure if it is a route we will go down. We have a lot of ground to cover before then. It is nice to be invited. We will have to see how he is after today’s race.
“He is in the Moulin and he is in the QEII and we like the idea of Ascot and the QEII, it’s whether we go to Longchamp on the way to that. And what we do after, who knows? We will enjoy today, it is a great race to win.”
Haatem (Phoenix Of Spain), who landed the Jersey Stakes (Gr 3, 7f) for Richard Hannon at Royal Ascot, was withdrawn moments before the race on veterinary advice.