Prix Morny: three Royal Ascot winners to clash in juvenile race of the season
Sunday's Group 1 Darley Prix Morny at Deauville looks set to be a cracker as three Royal Ascot winners in A'Ali, Arizona and Raffle Prize clash with Glorious Goodwood victor Golden Horde and leading French hope Earthlight.
British-trained runners have won four of the last five runnings and are responsible for four of the eight contenders. Simon Crisford's Norfolk Stakes winner A'Ali, who followed up in the Prix Robert Papin last time, is part of a challenge completed by Mark Johnston's Queen Mary heroine Raffle Prize, Clive Cox's Richmond Stakes winner Golden Horde and the Brian Meehan-trained Aroha.
Aidan O'Brien's leading hope is Arizona, who justified favouritism in the Coventry Stakes at the royal meeting. He will be joined at Deauville by the maiden Royal Dornoch as O'Brien seeks a first win in the race since Johannesburg in 2001.
The French have not won the six-furlong prize since Dabirsim triumphed in 2011 but have a strong contender in Earthlight, who has won all three starts for Andre Fabre.
There is also strong British and Irish representation in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet on the same card.
Worth Waiting (David Lanigan), Coronet (John Gosden) and Wild Illusion (Charlie Appleby) form the British challenge, while Aidan O'Brien runs I Can Fly and his son Joseph is represented by Red Tea.
Coronet enters the Romanet, a race for fillies contested over 1m2f, at the top of her game having registered a breakthrough success at the highest level against the colts in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on her most recent start.
The Freddy Head-trained With You, who finished second to Laurens in the Prix Rothschild last month, is the strongest of the French challengers.
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