Lutèce : Moonlight Spirit strolls in Paris
Photo scoopdyga.com
By winning the Prix de Lutèce (Gr3), a 3-year race over 15 furlongs at ParisLongchamp, running away without any kind of challenge, Moonlight Spirit (Dubawi) seized the French young stayers' crown. Trained in England by Charlie Appleby, he had finished third in the Prix du Lys (Gr3) on this course in May, then fourth in the Queen's Vase (Gr2) at Royal Ascot for his last outing, two and a half months before this triumphal return.
He is in the Qatar Prix Chaudenay (Gr2), the day before the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on this same course.
Supplemented by Francis Graffard when only three runners remained in the race, Think Of Me (So You Think) took a clear second place at the expense of Homer (Sea the Stars), who could not follow the winner's final effort after having marked him.
Moonlight Spirit is the third foal out of Moonsail (Monsun), placed at 2 over the mile and also the dam of Alqamar (Dubawi), unplaced in the Queen's Vase (Gr2) but placed on a few occasions in stayers' handicaps with a 90 to 92lbs tag. Moonlight Spirit's second dam is none other than Kazzia (Zinaad), secured by Godolphin in Germany early in her career, winner of the One Thousand Guineas (Gr1) and the Epsom Oaks (Gr1) for her 3rd and 4th outings, and later still a Flower Bowl Invitational (Gr1) winner at Belmont Park.