€130,000 Sumbe Alec Head (Gr2): Friendly Soul enjoys new spring

Deauville, Sunday, August 18th, 2024 – The €130,000 Sumbe Prix Alec Head (Prix de la Nonette, Gr2), a 3-year-old fillies' race contested over ten furlongs, saw Friendly Soul (Kingman) justify favouritism. Bolstered by her victory three weeks prior in the Longines Valiant Stakes (Gr3) over a mile, and her spring triumph in the Pretty Polly Stakes (L) over ten furlongs at Newmarket, the George Strawbridge homebred filly was the punters' choice. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, Friendly Soul immediately went to the front, followed by Rose Jaipur (Doctor Dino) and Kitty Rose (Invincible Army). She maintained a strong pace into the straight and was never truly threatened by her pursuers. The most notable challenge came from Birthe (Study of Man), winner of the St Mark's Basilica Coolmore Saint-Alary (Gr2), who finished strongly, a length behind, after a two-month layoff.

Candala (Frankel) briefly looked a contender for second place but couldn't sustain her effort in the final stages, finishing a good length behind the runner-up in third. This was despite her recent third-place finish over a mile and a half in the Prix de Malleret (Gr2).

Friendly Soul is out of the prolific mare In Clover (Inchinor), winner of the Prix de Flore (Gr3), the Prix de Lieurey (L) (which has just seen another edition contested), and the Prix de Liancourt (), a race also won by Morny-winner Whistlejacket's dam. In Clover was trained by Freddy Head and has subsequently enjoyed extraordinary success as a broodmare, producing three Group 1 winners: We Are (Dansili), winner of the Prix de l'Opéra (Gr1); Call the Wind (Frankel), winner of the Prix du Cadran (Gr1); and With You (Dansili), winner of the Prix Rothschild (Gr1). To date, she has produced an impressive seven stakes winners.