€80,000 Cabourg: Elite improves Ascot status

Sunday, 30th July 2023, Deauville Racecourse (Calvados). – Co-favourite of the €80,000 Prix de Cabourg (Gr3) alongside Havana Cigar (Havana Grey) after finishing third in the Norfolk Stakes (Gr2) at Royal Ascot, the English raider Elite Status (Havana Grey) led the race and then resisted the challenge of Sajir (Make Believe), who had only raced once while the eventual winner was making his fourth appearance. In the final hundred meters, after briefly challenging the winner, Sajir seemed to lose ground, and Havana Cigar, who had been held back for much of the race, closed in on him, finishing just a length behind.

No other runner ever looked like a serious threat.

Elite Status was sold as a weanling for £56,000 and then as a yearling, again at Tattersalls, for £325,000. His younger full brother was sold as a weanling for £82,000 at the end of last year. The dam and the second dam were both winners, but the third dam is also the third dam of Broome (Australia), second in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (Gr1) and winner of the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Gr1).