The Irish Derby winner, who'd just lost his unbeaten record when third in the Epsom Derby, smashed the field in a hot Grand Prix de Paris (G1) on Wednesday which, probably more than ever, looked like the Derby of all Derbies.
Hurricane Lane (Frankel), for Godolphin, led the field behind the front-runner of the Aidan O'Brien squad, The Mediterranean (Galileo). He came by entering the last straight and simply went away to win by six lengths over Wordsworth (Galileo), third in the Irish Derby and second here with a length over King Edward VII Stakes (G2) winner Alenquer (Adlerflug), who had beaten him in the Royal Ascot Derby.
Hurricane Lane was bought for £200,000 (about US$236,000) as a yearling at Tattersalls, a few months before his dam Gale Force (Shirocco) was consigned there in foal to Australia and sold for £300,000 (about US$350,000) to Charlie Gordon-Watson. Trained in Britain by James Fanshawe, Gale Force came to France to crown her career with a Listed win in the Denisy, a two-miler run at Saint-Cloud in November on a very heavy turf.
At stud, Gale Force first gave Frankel's Storm (Frankel), a Listed-placed also fifth in the Prix des Réservoirs (G3) at 2, then Hurricane Lane, and a Sea the Stars colt. It is a family originating from the Aga Khan studs.
WHAT CONNECTIONS SAID
William Buick (jockey of Hurricane Lane, 1st)
“I would like to start by thanking France Galop, who have worked with the BHA. Their collaboration has made sure that everything was in place so that I could come and ride the horse. On Monday weren't even sure it would be possible! That was already a small victory. This horse is a superstar. He really had the perfect race today, unlike at The Curragh. The layout of the racecourse, the ground, the rhythm… Everything was perfect for him. He has a good cruising speed and a strong acceleration. Even more so, he is a very relaxed horse in his head! Off the back of that I think that the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has to be a serious option for the autumn time.”
Charlie Appleby (trainer of Hurricane Lane, 1st)
“He's obviously been a very exciting horse to deal and he's only been beaten once in his life and that was in the Derby when I felt inexperience caught us out. Today's performance has franked him as one of the best three-year-olds in Europe and he's an exciting horse. As we always do we'll allow the dust to settle but you would have to be thinking about him as a serious contender for the Arc. We'll give him a bit of a break now because he's run in an English Derby, and Irish Derby and then backed it up two and a half weeks later in a Grand Prix de Paris. He deserves to have a break but whether he can give himself a break is another thing. He ran in the Grand Prix because he'd come out of the Irish Derby so well. He has a great constitution. He has a great mind and he show his wellbeing in the morning. A huge team effort goes into the way the horses are running at the moment and I'm delighted for his Highness Sheikh Mohammed.”
🌪 HURRICANE LANE 🌪
It's another huge win for @godolphin's FRANKEL colt as he lands the Grand Prix de Paris @paris_longchamp 🇫🇷
🎥 @AtTheRaces pic.twitter.com/IQK0vq3nsP
— World Horse Racing (@WHR) July 14, 2021
Olivier Peslier (jockey of Wordsworth, 2nd)
“He has ran well, despite not taking me along early. I had to shake him along to get him to follow the winner, to make sure I didn't get caught for toe. After that, he was very courageous and put in an excellent effort to finish second. He will be better suited by something a bit longer like the St Leger. He needs a little time to get going but he is quite talented.”
James Doyle (jockey of Alenquer, 3rd)
“The draw wasn't ideal. As we know it's not easy historically from the wide draw at Longchamp over a mile and a half. I rode him to come home and he's finished off very well. We were on the back foot a little bit and I had a little look up around the 800 metres out and I thought we had a bit of a mountain to climb. If the pace had held up it would have given me a chance but they did sort of steady at half way and made it very difficult for me to get into it. But I'm very proud of him, he's run a solid race and he's got the trip well. ”
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