1 week Ago
Doha: Map Of Stars made a remarkable impression, securing his first Gr.2 victory in the Prix d’Harcourt at ParisLongchamp yesterday.
The 2000m contest saw a field of just five runners, with Map Of Stars strongly fancied to win.
Owned by Wathnan Racing and trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, the four-year-old colt has now won five of his six starts.
The race was initially led by Cerain Lad (Clodovil), the British raider, who set a strong pace.
Map Of Stars was in fourth, just ahead of the main danger, Golden Horizon (Dabirsim).
As they reached the top of the hill, Cerain Lad increased the tempo to take a comfortable advantage.
Continuing to push forward, he was more than 10 lengths clear in the false straight.
At the beginning of the final straight, Map Of Stars under jockey James Doyle was still travelling strongly as the field began to close in on the leader, who was quickly coming back to them.
Map Of Stars soon became unchallenged and pulled a few lengths clear, eventually winning by two and a half lengths.
Golden Horizon finished second, while the long-time leader, Cerain Lad, took third.
Trainer Graffard said, “That’s the result of my team’s hard work, me, I’m just.
.. I’m the conductor! I’m happy, we saw a really good horse today.
Usually, he only wins by the bare minimum and all that, but this time, there was a horse that broke away early, and that actually played in our favour. As soon as he pulled out to go after him, he had a target in his sights, and then he really stretched out beautifully. No, I’m really happy with what I saw today.
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