MEETING DE DEAUVILLE BARRIERE - Reactions from the connections for the : Sumbe Prix Morny & Sumbe Prix Jean et Louis Romanet
2026 MEETING DE DEAUVILLE BARRIERE
Reactions from the connections for the :
1 – Sumbe Prix Morny
2 – Sumbe Prix Jean et Louis Romanet
1 - British juvenile Senorita Bonita lights up the Sumbe Prix Morny
In the Sumbe Prix Morny, Carry The Flag, the leader for Aidan O’Brien’s Irish team, set an extremely strong pace. So strong, in fact, that the two horses who tried to keep up with him, Tribeca and Orthodox, paid the price and eventually finished last and second-last.
By contrast, the two most fancied fillies in the race, Britain’s Senorita Bonita and France’s Kosuma, were patiently ridden towards the rear, only setting off in pursuit of the leader inside the final 200 metres. Senorita Bonita launched her challenge along the rail, while Kosuma came down the centre of the track, threading her way through the field.
The outcome vindicated the tactics adopted aboard Senorita Bonita. Her jockey Oisin Murphy – one of Britain’s leading riders for many years – elected to use the rail on the grandstand side, often a significant advantage at Deauville. When the filly changed leads and really began to accelerate, there was only one horse to watch. It was an electrifying display of speed and class.
The brave front-runner Carry The Flag held on for second, narrowly ahead of the fast-finishing Kosuma in third.
Bahrain’s rising force
Senorita Bonita races for Victorious Forever. Created in 2025 through the merger of two racing operations belonging to brothers Sheikh Nasser and Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, members of Bahrain’s royal family, Victorious Forever has rapidly emerged as a rising force on the international racing scene.
With more than 60 horses, the operation has ambitions to compete with the world’s leading owners. The racing project also reflects the growing international stature of Bahraini racing. In Europe, its champions have already enjoyed major success at Royal Ascot, in the St Leger and in the Prix Morny, a race the Victorious team first won in 2023 with Vandeek, also trained in Britain by Ed and Simon Crisford.
Official result
1st SENORITA BONITA (O. Murphy)
2nd CARRY THE FLAG (R. Whelan)
3rd KOSUMA (M. Guyon)
Margins: 4 – Short Neck – 1 1/4. Time: 1:08.79
Reactions from the connections
Simon Crisford, trainer of Senorita Bonita (1st), Britain
“Her acceleration is incredible! Senorita Bonita was a little slow away today and found herself slightly detached from the field while they were going very fast up front. But her turn of foot is electric and she finished the race remarkably well. She was a very good filly before today; now she is a Group 1 winner.
“We will now head to the Cheveley Park Stakes, where we will come up against Sun Goddess and Libertango. It will certainly be one of the highlights of the autumn.
“She now goes into that race as a top-class Group 1 winner. Senorita Bonita obviously breezed exceptionally well, which explains the price she made at the sales [she was bought at a two-year-old sale in Britain for almost €1 million in April 2026]. She also has a very good temperament. She has always shown a lot of ability and I think we have every reason to be excited about her.
“She is a beautiful filly and I hope she can also have a very good three-year-old campaign. She is clearly among the very best two-year-old fillies. When you look at her dam’s side, there is also a lot to like. You can certainly imagine her developing into a Classic filly.
“I genuinely believe that. Her dam is by Ruler of the World and it is a family with stamina. Physically, to be honest, she doesn’t look like a staying filly. She looks more like a 1,200-metre filly. But next year we will certainly try stepping her up in trip.
“Obviously, we need to discuss everything with Sheikh Khalid and Sheikh Nasser, her owners. They will decide on her programme. But they have bought a very good one here.
“They have enjoyed tremendous success at the highest level with a number of very good horses purchased in recent years. It is fantastic for them, for Bahrain’s racing industry and for the country. They are becoming a genuine force among racehorse owners.
“And it is thoroughly deserved. They are putting a huge amount of effort into the project. Victorious Forever is still a young and rapidly developing team, full of enthusiasm and very supportive of international racing. It is fantastic to have them here.”
Pierre-Yves Bureau, racing manager to Wertheimer & Frère, owners of Kosuma (3rd)
“Kosuma has run very well and the winner is very, very good. They went really fast and it took her some time to make up the ground, but she finished very strongly. When you see something like that, you naturally start thinking that we might be able to step her up in trip. Her pedigree also suggests that, and we have always thought she could stay further.
“This race does not point us towards any particular target at this stage. She has already raced four times, so we really need to see how she comes out of this and discuss things again.”
2 – Sumbe Prix Jean et Louis Romanet : French star Aventure better than ever at 5
In a race run at a strong pace by the pacemaker for the hot favourite, the unbeaten Irish-trained, French-bred Diamond Necklace, it was France’s Aventure who emerged victorious after a superb ride from Maxime Guyon.
Guyon settled the Wertheimer & Frère mare in fifth position, covered up on the inside along the rail. It allowed the five-year-old to conserve all her energy for the final battle with Diamond Necklace, who was travelling slightly wider.
In the straight, there was only one horse to watch: Aventure. She was the only runner able to pull decisively clear of the field, inexorably opening up a gap on her rivals. Behind her, Diamond Necklace gave everything to snatch second place from Timeforshowcasing.
A great day for the Wertheimer family
What a success for the Wertheimer family. In French racing, the famous blue silks with white seams belonging to the owners of Chanel have been passed down through the generations.
More than a century after Pierre Wertheimer first became involved in racing, his grandsons Alain and Gérard continue the adventure with the same ambition: to breed horses capable of winning at the very highest level. Épinard, Lavandin, Goldikova, Solemia, Solow and now Aventure have all played their part in this remarkable family story.
And it all begins just a short distance from Deauville racecourse, at Haras de Saint-Léonard in Normandy, the heart of a breeding operation where, generation after generation, the champions of tomorrow are produced.
Official result
1st AVENTURE (M. Guyon)
2nd DIAMOND NECKLACE (R. Moore)
3rd TIMEFORSHOWCASING (J. Mitchell)
Margins: 2 – Head – 1 1/2. Time: 2:09.06.
Reactions from the connections
Christophe Ferland, trainer of Aventure (1st), Chantilly (Oise)
“Aventure produced a genuine flash of class today.
“She is a great mare and dropping back to 2,000 metres suits her perfectly. I am delighted to see her perform so well over this distance. Over the past few months, we had felt that she was developing more speed, and she confirmed that today.
“She is entered in the Arc, but that is not the plan. She should instead run in the Prix de l’Opéra and then the Breeders’ Cup, with Hong Kong potentially bringing her season to a close, although nothing has been decided yet.
“She is the mare of a lifetime. Of course, there is always pressure when you bring horses like her to the races – and thankfully so. If I no longer felt pressure with horses of this calibre, it would mean I had no business being in this profession anymore.
“The pressure was perhaps even greater in the Vermeille last year because it was absolutely essential for her to win her Group 1, particularly with her future career as a broodmare in mind. Now, I wouldn’t say that everything is a bonus. Every race matters and we will take them one at a time, wanting to win every one of them. But seeing her confirm her ability at this level over 2,000 metres really opens up some exciting possibilities.
“She is a fantastic mare and this success rewards a huge number of people. The whole team deserves congratulations – the breeder, the owners, but also everyone at the stud and the stable who works every day to breed, raise and prepare these horses. It is a genuine team effort.
“I may have been seen less often this summer, but that is simply because I have fewer horses and therefore fewer runners. In fact, I only won my first race of the year with a two-year-old yesterday. It is probably the first time in my career that it has happened as late as August.
“It wasn’t necessarily my decision to change, but the pedigrees of the horses I am now being sent are more geared towards stamina and later-maturing horses. You have to adapt, and that suits me very well. I am not frustrated at all. On the contrary, it forces you to evolve the way you work and to respect each horse’s individual development more.”
Aidan O’Brien, trainer of Diamond Necklace (2nd), Ireland
“She ran well, but the winner was better than her today. We were very happy with her going into the race and the ground was not a concern. We will take her home now and see how she comes out of the race. She could be tried over 2,400 metres this autumn.”
Charlie Johnston, trainer of Timeforshowcasing (3rd), Britain
“I’m absolutely delighted. She has raced a lot this year and travelled extensively. To be honest, I thought we might have been setting the bar a little too high today against the best fillies in Europe. But once again, she has taken another step forward.
“To be fair to her, I think the ground is absolutely crucial. If you look at her performances this year on good or softer ground, she has won a Listed race and a Group 2 and has been placed in two Group 1s. The ground is clearly key to her, and I think she may get a little more respect in the future. But she really is a very high-class filly.”
Press Contacts France Galop
Héléna Dupuy – Tel. : 06 30 41 85 89 – Email : hdupuy@france-galop.com
Bertrand Bridon – Tél. : 06 63 86 66 08 – Email : bridonbertrand@gmail.com