€80,000 Bertrand de Tarragon (Gr3): Andromede awarded first star

Saturday, September 21, 2024, Chantilly Racecourse (Oise). - Five 3-year-old fillies faced six of their elders at the start of the €80,000 Prix Bertrand de Tarragon (Gr3) mile race. The favourite was Andromède (Sea the Stars), who had been knocking on the door of Group 3 races since the start of the season and finally found the key. It was a close call, however, as the representative of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Thani narrowly resisted the finish of the unlucky Mountain Song (Sea the Stars), who was hampered several times in the final straight.

That said, the winner did not have the best run, boxed out as she was with Sea the Lady (Sea the Moon) leading for a long time at the head of the field. The leader cracked, however, to finally settle for sixth place, the pack swooping down on her in the last hundred metres after she had covered the mile in 1'37''4, a second faster than the leader of the main handicap of the day on this course.

Beaten by a head, Mountain Song finished a short neck ahead of the third-placed Rose Jaipur (Doctor Dino), the best 3-year-old in the race, who was nearly a length ahead of a pleasing Secretive (Justify), who came from a long way back on the outside.

Andromede was not sent to the sales but her full brother was sold as a yearling for £310,000 last year at Tattersalls to D. Farrington/SackvilleDonald. Their 4-year-old sister La Isla Mujeres (Lope de Vega) won her first Listed race in Ireland over 1m4f in July in the colours of Moyglare Stud.