Juddmonte Pair Square Off at Saint-Cloud
Description:
Juddmonte owner Khalid Abdullah has two top contenders in Flintshire and Noble Mission for the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-I) June 29 in France.
Flintshire, trained by Andre Fabre, and Noble Mission, conditioned by Jane Cecil, are among seven runners for the 2,400-meter (about 1 1/2-mile) turf test that drew five other runners, including multiple French group winner Spiritjim and German group I-placed maiden winner Empoli.
Flintshire comes in off a second to Cirrus des Aigles in the Investec Coronation Cup (Eng-I) June 7 at Epsom, his first start back since finishing unplaced in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) in October at Longchamp. Last year, he won the Grand Prix de Paris (Fr-I) and Prix du Lys Longines (Fr-III) in back-to-back efforts for Fabre, who will bid for an eighth win in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud with the 4-year-old son of Dansili.
Noble Mission, a full brother to undefeated champion Frankel, found success in his top-level debut last time out when taking the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Ire-I) from Magician. The victory capped a three-race win streak that also includes the Betfair Price Rush Huxley Stakes (Eng-III) in May at Chester and the Bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes (Eng-III) in April at Sandown.
Spiritjim brings in a four-race win streak that includes the May 8 Prix d'Hedouville (Fr-II) over Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud entrant Meleagros and the June 1 Grand Prix de Chantilly (Fr-I).
Empoli has gone winless in nine starts since breaking his maiden last April in Germany but has placed three times in stakes, including Grosser Preis von Bayern (Ger-I) last August. He was a neck second in the Dubai Millennium Stakes Sponsored by District One in February at Meydan then posted consecutive fourth-place finishes in the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I) in March and Coronation Cup.
Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-I), 4YO & Up, 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) turf
No. PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. 1. Flintshire, M. Guyon, 128, A. Fabre
2. 4. Noble Mission, J. Doyle, 128, J. Cecil
3. 3. Meleagros, A. Foussier, 128, A. Couetil
4. 5. Spirit Jim, C. Lemaire, 128, P. Bary
5. 7. Empoli, U. Rispoli, 128, P. Schiergen
6. 6. Narniyn, C. Soumillon, 125, A. Royer-Dupre
7. 2. Siljan's Saga, P. Boudot, 125, J.-P. Gauvin