Princess Zoe | Horse Racing Free Tips

Zoe Sits Royal Oak Test

ParisLongchamp stages the G1 Prix Royal-Oak on Sunday, with the fillies and mares very much at centre stage. Fresh from a career-best success in the 2 1/2-mile G1 Prix du Cadran here on Oct. 3, Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) is partnered by Seamie Heffernan with regular rider Joey Sheridan suspended due to a whip ban handed out by these stewards on Arc Saturday. On the same day, The Aga Khan’s Valia (Fr) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) took the G2 Prix Chaudenay in the manner of a filly going places and she is bound to have been prepared meticulously by Alain de Royer-Dupre.

If there is a colt capable of making an impact it is Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}), who showed how much he appreciates testing ground and a staying trip when scoring by 15 lengths in Goodwood’s G3 March S. on Aug. 29.

Trainer Tony Mullins said of Princess Zoe, “Hopefully it’s not too quick a return. We wouldn’t be here if we saw any evidence that it was, but you’re not really going to know until the last 200 metres on Sunday–that will be the acid test. Everything has gone according to plan and we don’t see any problems at the moment. We think we’re in as good a form as we were the last day, if not better.”

“We see the Aga Khan filly and Mark Johnston’s horse as the two dangers,” he added. “I think more the Aga Khan filly, who is a possible improver. She’ll have to improve again, I think, but it’s very possible that she will.” Charlie Johnston said of Subjectivist, “If you had asked me a month ago where he was going to go, I would have said the Long Distance Cup at Ascot last weekend–that was Plan A, but then when Stradivarius turned up and Aidan declared everything he did, it looked a deeper field than we expected it to be so at the last minute we decided to give it a swerve and go for the Royal-Oak. Looking at it, I think it’s the right decision. The trip is a little bit of an unknown–you are always a little bit hesitant with him, because of his run style and how he likes to get on with things. Princess Zoe needed every yard of the two and a half miles last time and I would like to think over this trip we might have too much class for her. Our horse will handle the conditions and goes there with a good chance.”

In the 11-furlong G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris, Gestut Schlenderhan’s 3-year-old colt Mare Australis (Ire) (Australia {GB}) is running for the first time since making hard work of winning the Listed Prix de l’Avre over 12 furlongs at Chantilly on June 14. He faces the vastly-more experienced Nagano Gold (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB}) who will be hard to beat if able to reproduce the form of either his second in the June 28 G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud or his third placing behind Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G2 Prix Foy at this venue on Sept. 13.

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Heffernan To Ride Princess Zoe

Seamie Heffernan will ride Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) in Sunday’s G1 Prix Royal-Oak, with regular rider Joey Sheridan serving a 12-day ban for his use of the whip on the 5-year-old mare during her half-length win in the G1 Prix du Cadran on Oct. 3. The Cadran was the pinnacle of a meteoric rise for the Tony Mullins-trained grey; Princess Zoe was purchased from Germany earlier this year off a mark of 64 and has since won five straight races and is now rated 109.

“She’s as fit as she can be,” said Mullins. “Seamie sat on her on Sunday. He was very happy with her, and we were very happy with him. Joey is obviously suspended, which is a shame. He got six days for too many strikes with the whip, and they doubled the penalty because it was a Group 1, which is a rule I couldn’t find in any rule book anywhere. Anyway, that’s the way it goes.

“We’re very happy with the mare. All I can say is that in the back of my mind I’m thinking a two-and-a-half-mile race less than three weeks ago has to take its toll at some stage, but there is no evidence at the moment, so we’re set to go. We’ve done all our blood tests, and everything is perfect. I would say the next one is the acid test, in the last 100 metres next Sunday.”

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Bloodlines Presented By Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders And Owners Association: A Banner Weekend For Fillies

Around the world this weekend, fillies have made life hard on the colts. Notably, here at home in the States, the Daredevil filly Swiss Skydiver refused to yield to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (Into Mischief) in the Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3.

At Longchamp in France, a pair of mares won Group 1 races against their male competition. In the 2 1/2-mile Prix du Cadran, the 5-year-old Princess Zoe caught the longtime leader Alkuin close to the finish and won the staying laurels in Europe. In the seven-furlong Prix de la Foret, the 6-year-old One Master (Fastnet Rock) won this important race for the third time. She was bred in England by Lael Stable, which also campaigns the talented racer.

The German-bred Princess Zoe is a daughter of the Montjeu stallion Jukebox Jury. The sire won the G2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot as a 2-year-old, then progressed to win the G2 Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket, the G2 Prix Kergorlay at Deauville, the G1 Irish St. Leger at the Curragh, and the G1 Preis von Europa at Cologne. The gray went to stud in Germany at Gestut Etzean in 2013, where Princess Zoe came from a mating in the stallion's second season of breeding, foals of 2015. In 2018, Jukebox Jury was transferred to Ireland and stands at Burgage Stud in County Carlow.

Daredevil, the sire of multiple Grade 1 winner Swiss Skydiver, has had a similar pattern at stud. The son of More Than Ready entered stud at WinStar Farm in 2016, then before his stock reached the races, was sold to the Jockey Club of Turkey and transferred to their studs in Eastern Europe, along with Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver.

Swiss Skydiver, along with G1 Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil, are members of the first crop of racers by Daredevil, and they have raised his profile among breeders in Turkey and elsewhere. According to press reports out of Turkey, there is considerable interest in Daredevil from breeders around the world, and he may be put to use as a dual-hemisphere stallion.

The dam of Swiss Skydiver, the Johannesburg mare Expo Gold, has been added to the Keeneland November sale. The 12-year-old mare, in foal to first-year sire Catholic Boy (More Than Ready), will sell on the first day of the November sale as part of the Taylor Made consignment. In addition, two half-sisters to Swiss Skydiver have been consigned to the Keeneland November auction: the stakes-placed Miss Hot Legs, who is by Verrazano, a son of More Than Ready, like Daredevil and Catholic Boy, will be consigned by South Point Sales, agent, in foal to Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist; and Is It Gold (Indygo Shiner), will be offered as a broodmare prospect by Hunter Valley Farm, agent.

More Than Ready himself had a massively successful weekend, as the sire of Uni, winner of the G1 First Lady Stakes, and as the broodmare sire of Simply Ravishing (Laoban), the winner of the G1 Alcibiades Stakes.

The final filly who put the boys in their place was the Japanese-bred Gran Alegria, a daughter of the great sire Deep Impact. She shares a sire with the 3-year-old Contrail, who will attempt to win his country's Triple Crown after victories in the Satsuki Sho (2,000 Guineas) and Tokyo Yushun (Japan Derby).

In contrast to the classic winner Contrail, the 4-year-old Gran Alegria tackled colts in the G1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama over 1,200 meters on turf. Lagging behind all but one of her competitors, Gran Alegria went outside all the racers in front of her as she turned on a stretch finish that would have made Winx blush.

Turning into the stretch with only one competitor behind her, Gran Alegria swept past them all to win by two lengths in 1:08.3. It is an exhibition worth watching and a link to the race video is available on the website of Horse Racing in Japan.

This fast bay filly is out of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly Turf winner Tapitsfly (Tapit), who sold to Katsumi Yoshida for $1.85 million at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November sale. A two-time G1 winner, Tapitsfly produced Gran Alegria as her first named foal, and the Sprinters Stakes winner is her dam's only surviving offspring. Tragically, Tapitsfly died foaling another Deep Impact foal on Mar. 2, 2018.

Some of the bravest and fleetest of our racers, mares put their lives into producing the next generation of racing stock. On the course and in the paddocks, they deserve our salute.

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