Marois: Romanised lands 2nd Gr1 and beats the young ones

Fifth last year, Irish raider Romanised (Holy Roman Emperor) took his revenge on Sunday in the 98th renewal of the Prix de Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois (Gr1), the traditional Summer mile championship of the summer on the 1,600 meters in a straight line from Deauville.Led by the two pacesetters, the race really started about two furlongs from home when the 3-year-old Shaman (Shamardal) took over the leaders. The Wertheimers homebred long seemed able to win but in his wake, his elder Romanised, the pick of the paddock before the race, had plenty in hand and he swiftly passed the French challenger to win by over a length. Shaman narrowly held off a convincing Line of Duty (Galileo), who ended strong to fail by a nose in third, two months after his failed Epsom Derby attempt. The favourite Watch Me (Olympic Glory) finished fourth more than one length down, without any real excuse. She simply couldn't pick up in the last furlong despite a fine trip.

This is a second success at Group 1 level for Romanised, who won last year in the Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Gr1). He had just returned to victory on the same Curragh course in Ireland, over 7 furlongs in the Minstrel Stakes (Gr2).

Trained in Ireland by Ken Condon, Romanised is out of Romantic Venture (Indian Ridge), bred by Moyglare Stud, who won a race in only two outings but gave a Listed winner in Ireland exported to Australia, and an Italian Gr3-winner trained by Andreas Wöhler.