Prix Jacques La Marois.

prices with blu sqr

Not a chance,Peslier was just coasting with her sin,he put the race to bed in a matter of strides and took it easy on her,he just made a mistake of assuming there was nothing coming at her in the finish.

possibly TFM.

5/6 vs 10/1 though ?

She'd better be running!

Been wanting to see Planteur over a mile.  Plenty of toe - 14/1 could be big.  Immortal Verse is a tremdnous filly too and will go close if she's ok.  This is a long way from being a Goldi cakewalk imo.

'tremendous'

agree Headmaster, if all those line up I reckon she could get turn over.

I cant get Sahpresa's comfortable defeat of Moonlight Cloud out of my mind, at 10/1 she is a must bet for me.

Any word from connections in France ..?

Dick Turpin was right back to his best last time and could still be improving - he looks better value than Mutual Trust at the odds, provided he gets some cut in the ground.  Immortal Verse is a fast improving filly and could spring a surprise.  I'm not convinced that Sahpresa's Prix du Palais Royal victory over Moonlight Cloud is good enough form - the latter appeared to run lengths better in the Prix Maurice de Gheest last time (using Evaporation as a guide).

Like you James I think MT has it to do.  Dangerous to dismiss an unbeaten Fabre 3-y-o obviously but no value there imo. Unlike you I'm not convinced DT has shown enough (for quite a while) to win this.  Not ruling out the Italian horse by any stretch, but I've always been an Immortal Verse believer and also think Planteur is very interesting over 8f.

While we're on Deauville, here are the Guillaume D'Ornano decs.  Looks a very warm Group 2 to these eyes:

GLASWEGIAN
RED DUBAWI
DUNBOYNE EXPRESS
WALDPARK
COLOMBIAN
SLOW PACE
GOLDEN LILAC
GALIKOVA

Not after GOLDEN LILAC and GALIKOVA are declared non runners

WALDPARK  [:p][:p][:p][:p][:p][:p]

Cant see myself backing Goldi at the prices with a couple of dangers in this race,

Think the play is Worthaad each way or in a market without Goldikova,Travelled and looked a high class colt in the Lockinge,was very impressed with him that day,take out Canford and he would have been an impressive winner,been waiting for him to run since that day and think the 12/1 is more than fair

The more I think about this, the more the 14/1 Planteur looks massive.  Have read two previews from France now and both have him as the danger to Goldi.  The turfistes have a lot of respect for him too and I can see him going off 2nd fav.  Ground should be right up his street.  Drop in trip a plus.

Head says he might pull the favourite if the ground turns too soft.  Hoping he doesn't as that's some R4 to absorb.

Aren't they AP terms ? Will have to check my bet.

Was there any update you read re Sahpresa please ?

think Roger Charlton said today Cityscape will run.

Still AP rules at this stage,no R4 will apply and unless the ground is very soft or heavy Goldi will still run,as for Planteur,love him to bits,follow him alot,but we see top horses now and again stepping down from 10f to a mile and it never works out,its a huge ask for him,he does have a nice turn of foot but i cant see him making an impact over a mile against some of these,another note is that the trainer loves him and always makes huge statements going into his races about how brilliant he is and that he thinks he will win evey race before its even run

Can't see how this is an ante-post market.  The race declared today, which is why Blu went up. There was never an ante-post market on the Marois.

Goldikova is very beatable over a straight mile if the grounds soft as makfi showed when easily beating her
in this race last year. Dick Turpin and Cityscope would be the posible ones to take advantage if these
condition arose, with preference to Cityscope as DT has become inconsistent.
Does anyone Know when the race is due to take place?

I've backed Cityscape @ 20s as there looks like plenty of rain in forecast next 48 hours for northern France. Really hot race though with lots of horses I like, Goldi too short but will go off odds on on PMU for sure

it was very very soft last year when Makfi beat her and he was a brilliant horse in those conditions tinkler,she will not run if the ground is in that state again,but it will take alot of rain from now and then to get like that,would not put anybody off cityscape but DT could never beat her even on soft and even if he put up his best effort and the race is live on ATR at 2:55 on monday

It always seems tempting to oppose Goldikova as she's usually goes off at a short price and is continually
getting older. The problem is she keeps on winning and rarely loses , so its difficult to say evens is a
poor price. Unless the ground is genuinely soft I wouldn't be to keen on looking to oppose her.
I agree that Worthadd is an interesting runner, if he can avoid getting into a battle with Glk's pacemakers
and the grounds decent he could be difficult to peg back for all bar Goldikova. If the ground was as fast
as it was at Newbury he would be very interesting at 12/1.
Getting an accurate going report from France isn't easy , so I doubt its a race I'll get involved in.
Good luck.

"V soft ground", according to Roger Charlton on Twitter this morning.

Cityscape has to be great e/w value in this. Goldie won't be at her best on soft and is beatable in such conditions as Makfi showed. Perfect conditions for Cityscape - not going to dry out much in next day. Deauville hit by loads of rain yesterday.

Think Goldikova will go fine on the soft - Makfi would have won whatever the conditions - Goldi and Paco Boy ran to form in last year's race.

Suprised to see this being run on a Monday btw.

F.Head has said on many occasions that soft blunts her speed and not her ideal conditions.

yes that what he says but she has performed very well on it in the past.

soft ground blunts every horse's speed

French Bank Holiday on Monday, AT.

Apologies if I'm boring anyone but I cannot find a French preview that doesn't have Planteur as the main threat and I agree with all of them. Any French punter worth his salt would be all in Planteur at 14/1.  Win, lose or draw this really is a massive price, as I'm sure the PMU will reveal tomorrow afternoon.

(been keeping an eye out for anything on Saphresa and little said so far, sint)

14/1 looks good valure for a place - can't see how Planteur can possibly win it though against proven milers

no worries Headmaster. I was just concerned whether or not she would line up but she has been declared now so that is all I was looking for.

Other horses act on it far better though A_T

Goldikova
Worthaad
Cityscape

there is the tricast for you just thank me after the race

Going described as 'heavy' there today. A day of dry weather will probably make it more testing.

did not look to bad watching todays racing,hardly any kickback or anything and the sky was blue,Cirrus des aigles romped home so the class horses will get through it fine

not sure they'll be getting through it as easily tomorrow. Cirrus d.a. a proven mudlark. More telling that Poet tried to do his usual front-run and was spent before the finish having gone too quick.

just looked genuine soft to me today certainly not heavy

Times also indicate just soft, nowhere near heavy.

maybe not heavy but holding soft ground is not Goldie's cup of tea. I'm her biggest fan but simply not her conditions and do not see Evens as value.

Best Race of the year so far. Not been one that i would have so many 120+ rated horses.

This is my ratings opinion of what the odds should be

Jaques Le Marois	Rating		Price
Goldikova	132.5		1.91
Dick Turpin	126.5		7.1
Planteur	125		10.3
Cityscape	123		17
Mutual Trust	122.5		19
Immortal Verse	120		30
Worthadd	120		30
Saphresa	120		30	]
Tin Horse	117.5		52	]
Royal Bench	112		146	]
Flash Dance	95		2641	]
Polemique	85		4740	]

If this was the Goldikova of previous years then I'd be backing her but I believe she has to be opposed this time. She's obviously still very good but she hasn't shown me the same brilliance of the previous two years, therefore the race is much tighter than the betting suggests. On this year's figures at the weights I have

Tin Horse 101
Mutual Trust 100
Immortal Verse 99
Goldikova 98
Dick Turpin 98

Even though Tin Horse narrowly tops my ratings and had a possible stamina excuse last time he doesn't appeal to me as I'm not convinced he will repeat his French Guineas form. Dick Turpin would be in with a shout if he's back to his best but it's difficult to judge if that's the case on his latest effort. I was quite impressed with Mutual Trust's Gp3 win, he then followed up by battling well to win the Prix Jean Prat, he showed versatility as that was a slowly run affair. As long as those races haven't taken too much out of him then he should go very close. Immortal Verse was impressive at Ascot and while that performance wasn't quite as good as the colts I can see no obvious reason why she shouldn't run a big race here. Betting on two horses in the same race isn't the usual way I operate but with such narrow margins between the main contenders and great value to be had I'm backing Mutual Trust and Immortal Verse to beat the great mare.

Can't see how Goldikova can lose

what is the weather for today .. is it hot sun or cloud cover ..

temp not warm there going by all forecasts of Deauville. It's clear but max temp of only 18ºC.

I would expect Goldi to win,but its way to strong of a race to be backing her with huge confidence,have taken Worthaad each way at 14/1 and without goldi at 7/1 think the prices on him are an insult and only due to the fact that he is an italian raider and the bookies have only seen him once in england in the lockinge

French haven't seen him at all and the early signs are that he could be a very fair price on the PMU.

RogerCharlton Roger Charlton
Just walking the course in Deauville, strong head wind drying out to good to soft and soft in places. Looking forward to the race

headwind likely to make it even more of a test - not ideal for Goldi imho

Peslier ridden a treble already

as long as he does not win the next i'm happy

Any doubts I might have had about Immortal Verse have been dispelled.

Impressive.

Well done Headmaster and Figgis.  Even if Goldikova performed a little below her best today, there's no doubt that Immortal Verse has been improving at a dramatic rate in her last three races and she was a thoroughly impressive winner.  Good shout, sint, re: Sahpresa bustling up Goldikova - hope you were on each-way.

The pace was so rapid anything close to it, got burnt inc. Cityscape. All the hold up horses dominated. Kicking myself for not backing the winner having been so impressed with her at R.Ascot.

I was indeed James but took 10/1 not the 12/1 SP.

Why is Christophe Lemaire regarded as such a top jockey ? He is as weak as Richard Hills in a finish. Sahpresa obviously would not have won, but should have beat Goldi for second with a little more effort,imo.

Ta Jamesp. I'm happy that I got on late last night before PW did his damage but can't believe the s.p. was 19/1! Goldikova lost nothing in defeat, for me, at the age of 6. It would be interesting to see how well most of the past "champions" would fare if they were kept in training at that age without receiving the weight concessions. Not too well I'd bet. She isn't quite as good as she was but she's still amazingly consistent and remains the best female miler I've seen.

well done Figgis. Forgot you had backed the winner, nice one!

Not sure if you caught the Gerald Mosse interview this morning on ATR but he actually said he thought Planteur would win. Talk about putting punters away!

Very well done Headmaster and Figgis.

Must admit never thought the horse was much good myself. Didn't think she had beaten anything at Ascot and that run seemed to come out of the blue to me.

Just rapidly improving last 3 runs i suppose.

It's nothing to do with Goldikova not being quite as good as she was. It rained.

Assuming the 20 runner Listed mile race was run over the same course this Group 1 was run 0.7 seconds faster. Immortal Verse was impressive but the way she glided up the rail she obviously got her ground.

Ta sint. No I didn't see that. I thought Planteur was an ok 3yo but he hasn't progressed enough at 4 to be giving the wfa, I suppose he ran ok though, better than Mutual Trust, who looked a bit knackered.

Goldikova has put up better performances on ground just as soft as that, ground a poor excuse imo.

disagree. She doesn't like soft ground. At the very highest level, she was likely to find at least one too good, as happened.

Who needs excuses? She became a no bet when the rain. It's the flippancy with which you dismiss her two weeks after winning her 14th Group 1 race that I object to.

There's no ignoring the time. 1m 38.3 secs.

*when the rain came

Dismiss her? Wtf are you on about?

And what about the time? It suggests it was good to soft, she's run better on similar and worse ground.

Goldikova lost nothing in defeat, for me, at the age of 6... She isn't quite as good as she was

dismissive

12:50 - Grand Handicap De Deauville (Listed Race) (3yo+) (Turf) TIME 1m 39.00s

suggests she may not have even won the Listed race

So because I said the best filly I've ever seen isn't quite as good as she was I'm dismissing her? Very strange. I don't recall you saying she was a "no bet" before the race?

hippie Joined: 07 Jun 05
Replies: 4173 15 Aug 11 16:08   
12:50 - Grand Handicap De Deauville (Listed Race) (3yo+) (Turf) TIME 1m 39.00s

suggests she may not have even won the Listed race

Only if you believe ground never slows during the course of a meeting.

I didn't say anything to anyone before the race. Why should I, it does nothing for my enjoyment. I wouldn't have commented after either until you tried to misrepresent Goldikova's running.

hippie Joined: 07 Jun 05
Replies: 4172 01 Aug 11 14:02   
Immortal Verse isn't good enough to give Goldikova a real battle. She was flattered by the 2 length winning margin in the Coronation Stakes because she got the breaks and Nova Hawk didn't.

That was discussing the Rothschild. Had I known it would rain two weeks later I might have added the proviso that Goldikova may not take part if it rained or I would not bet her if it rained.

I still wouldn't have had Immortal Verse to win the race though. The Coronation form looked poor until after the Marois was run. I've no problem admitting she's a better horse than I gave her credit for. Next time she runs I'll be considering ground conditions when making my bet but if your interest is oneupmanship, well done, aint gonna make you any money though is it.

Poor show dragging that up. Shows why some people post here.

I've no interest in oneupmanship, we all get it wrong. I'll leave you to make your post race comments in future as pre race comments do nothing for your enjoyment [;)]

Good performance from the winner but this was the worst run from Goldikova for a long time.

Cracking race ran at a good pace. Plenty seemed to put in their best efforts and the form looks reliable.
Immortal Verse was an Impressive winner travelling well before showing a good turn of foot then resisting any
further challenges. Goldikova ran her usual ultra consistent race . Dick turpin and Cityscope had their
limitations exposed under ideal conditions.
The winner is obviously very effective on soft ground but I'd be surprised if she wasn't as effective on
good ground, fast ground I'm not sure. Her potent turn of foot will make her difficult to beat in future.

my arc policy based on the season so far....lay anything over 3yrs old.

the young guns will dominate. wouldnt surprise me if the fill the frame.

sarafina

I agree on Sarafina looking very strong , backed her lazy year to see her stumble almost go down and run on well
Think she may give Aga another arc

I've got 2pts @ 14/1 on Sarafina. [:D]