Stacelita: took her career record to eight wins from eleven starts
PICTURE: APRHStacelita digs deep for fourth Group 1 victory
Report: France, Sunday
Deauville: Darley Prix Jean Romanet (Group 1) 1m2f, 4yo+ fillies & mares
STACELITA recorded a fourth Group 1 victory with a hard fought success from Godolphin's Antara at Deauville on Sunday. The race was run at a crawl in theearly stages and the winner was always well positioned to land the odds as the 4-5 favourite.
The victory gave a boost to recent Darley Yorkshire Oaks winner Midday, who recorded a narrow verdict over the winner in the Blue Square Nassau Stakes in July.
For Stacelita it was an impressive eighth career win from only eleven starts, although she was pushed all the way to the line by the Frankie Dettori-ridden runner-up.
BoardMeeting set a very sedate pace early and many of the runners settled towards the rear struggled to get competitive. Aware of the lack of pace, Christophe Soumillon established Stacelita in second before sending her into a clear lead early in the home straight.
It proved a race winning move, as try as hard as Antara and Frankie Dettori could, they could never quite get on terms with the winner, who grimly held the second close home.
For winning trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, it was case of mission accomplished. He said: "The whole objective this season was to win a Group 1 with her as a four-year-old.
"It was a bit of a risk running her three weeks after Goodwood and you'll see her again in another Group race, probably the E.P. Taylor Stakes in Canada, then Hong Kong.
"It was a good performance as she would not have been suited by the lack of pace today."
Canada could also be on Antara's radar according to Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford, he said: "That was an excellent run and we'll now wait for autumn ground. She loves to get her toe in and could run in races like the E.P. Taylor."
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