Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's Perfect Power (IRE) showed an electric turn of foot to win the Group 1 Darley Prix Morny at Deauville on Sunday and captured his second Breeders' Cup Challenge race this year in the Juvenile Turf Sprint Division. In June at Royal Ascot, Perfect Power won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes and secured an automatic starting position into this year's $1 million Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 84 stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California on Nov. 5-6.
Perfect Power scored his first Group 1 success when powering to victory in the six-furlong Darley Prix Morny at 3/1.
Settled near the rear of the 14-runner field under Christophe Soumillon, the 2-year-old son of Ardad (IRE) out of the Frozen Power (IRE) mare Sagely (IRE), showed all his class when battling past 14/1 Trident (FR) in the final stages of the race to win by 1 ¼ lengths. Third place went to trainer Alan King's Asymmetric (IRE) who returned at 4/1.
Perfect Power completed the race in 1:10.81 on a course rated as good to soft.
Winning trainer Richard Fahey said: “I'm just delighted, it looked a very solid race there today. Christophe gave him a very confident ride, and it got tight for two strides or so, but he came through it, which was great. It's been a frustrating enough year, but this is just what the doctor ordered. It's why we do it and why we're in the game.”
The Group 1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket on Sept. 25 is next on the agenda for Perfect Power. Fahey added: “He'll definitely go for the Middle Park next. It's not often you make a plan for a horse, but the two races myself and Sheikh Rashid mentioned were the Prix Morny and then the Middle Park, and it's very nice to have one in the bag already.”
As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for Perfect Power to start in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, which will be run over 5 furlongs on the turf course at Del Mar. Breeders' Cup will also provide a travel allowance of $40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.
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