Dancing Gemini all set to bounce back in Prix Jacques le Marois

South Wales Guardian

a day ago

After laying down an early-season marker with impressive wins at Doncaster and Sandown, momentum has been checked slightly for Roger Teal's stable star with a narrow defeat in the Lockinge followed by a disappointing showing at Royal Ascot.
However, given plenty of time to recover since the Queen Anne Stakes, Teal is confident of a revival at Deauville where he will recommence rivalries with what are becoming familiar faces.
Teal said: 'He travelled over on Thursday and he had a little hack canter around the track on Friday morning. He was quite perky apparently, so all is good.
'It was just a farce of a pace at Ascot and if you take that run out of it he's bang there, isn't he?
'There's a few coming in off disappointing runs, it's not just him. Notable Speech has had a couple of disappointing runs and Docklands last time didn't perform like he did at Ascot. It's the nature of the beast in these big races I'm afraid – it sometimes comes down to how the dice rolls on the day.
'The Japanese horse (Ascoli Piceno) looks pretty strong, so it's going to be a good race and we're there to do our best and we'll see what happens.
'We only know about our horse, we don't know how the others are performing or training. Our horse seems to be in good form and what will be will be. Whoever wins it is going to have to put up a very good performance and hopefully it goes in our favour.'
The Group One event has been a happy hunting ground for British and Irish raiders down the years, with the last French-trained winner coming in 2017.
Another on the comeback trail is Notable Speech, with Charlie Appleby quickly abandoning the sprinting experiment that saw him contest the July Cup most recently to return to the distance over which he scooped the 2000 Guineas last season.
Speaking on the Godolphin website, Appleby said: 'Notable Speech goes into this in good order and we feel that stepping back up to a straight mile is going to suit.
'He looks very competitive in this field and can hopefully get his head back in front at this level.'
Meanwhile, Aidan O'Brien will rely on both one-time Derby hope and Prix Jean Prat third The Lion in Winter and Minstrel Stakes scorer Diego Velazquez in search of just his second-ever win in the race, with the latter sporting the famous silks of the Sangster family having transferred ownership mid-week.
'He's incredibly exciting and a horse we had been keeping our eye on,' said Sam Sangster on the purchase, with sights set on Group One honours this term.
'There's plenty of racing in him for the rest of the year starting on Sunday and I don't think a Group One is out of his reach at all and it's in Aidan we trust.
'He's done enough for a place at stud already in my opinion and he has a fabulous pedigree as well, but if we can get that Group One it will boost him even more and that will be the aim for the rest of the year.'