Dettori and Ward make more Morny magic with exciting Campanelle
Wesley Ward would be the first to pay tribute to his old ally Frankie Dettori but, while racing's favourite showman has dominated Deauville from the saddle these last two weekends, the victory of Campanelle belongs squarely to Ward and his extraordinary filly.
A third Darley Prix Morny for Ward is yet further evidence the American is one of the very best when it comes to training horses for specific targets and then travelling them.
Royal Ascot form came to the fore as the Queen Mary winner was chased home by Coventry hero Nando Parrado, who proved his 150-1 success was no fluke. Third went to the Richard Fahey-trained Rhythm Master, who handled a huge jump in class on just his second start.
Campanelle is due to spend an easy couple of weeks in Chantilly as her travelling companion Wink gears up for the Group 3 Prix d'Arenberg, but Ward will keep an eye on her recuperation and has not ruled out staying on in Europe for a crack at the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket.
"We’re going to nominate her to the Cheveley Park and she’ll go down to Chantilly with the other filly [Wink] for a little bit of a letdown," said Ward. "Chantilly is a beautiful place and she can have a break while we decide which direction we go.
"With Hootenanny he came straight back [from finishing second in the Morny] and trained right up to winning the Breeders’ Cup for me over a mile. This year the race is right here in my backyard at Keeneland so I‘m excited for her to get her here and training on my home track.
"We’re going to sit down and give the Cheveley Park some serious thought. It’s a wonderful race and Lady Aurelia was right there until they just swarmed us in the last ten strides.
"Campanelle has a longer stride so it would suit her. We’ll sit down with Ben McElroy, who picked the filly out and is managing her. Between Ben, Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Stables and myself there will be all sorts of opinions and then we'll come to a decision."
But it is the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf – a race for which Paddy Power make Campanelle 5-1 favourite – that will be her ultimate target.
Frankie just called me and he was just yelling “Mile! Mile! Mile!
"I told him don’t worry, she wants all of a mile. We’re going to look forward to stretching her out over a mile down the road at some point, likely in the Breeders’ Cup."
Ward added: "She’s a big filly but with a lot of speed as well and we saw that right from the start when we started training her down in Florida.
"What really impressed me was that she went to Ascot off a very short rest before she won the Queen Mary. Usually my horses get a chance to acclimatise to the cooler weather over there and have good spacing between their races. Everything came close together for her and she still won.
"Now that she’s had the time I really started to see her blossom at home. We had good spacing from Ascot to the Morny and she’s grown, as well as really thriving on the travel. She goes from A to B and when she gets to B she just picks right up.
"We’re very lucky to have a filly like her with that long stride and she's a lot bigger horse than No Nay Never or Lady Aurelia, who were real sprinting types."
Dettori was celebrating a second Group 1 in seven days following Palace Pier's win in the Jacques le Marois at the same track last Sunday.
The Deauville stewards took a dim view of Dettori's failure to keep Campanelle straight shortly after leaving the stalls, but his three-day ban will commence on September 6, 24 hours after Enable has her Arc dress rehearsal at Kempton.
"I was very impressed with her in the Queen Mary," said Dettori. "She's grown since Ascot and has an amazingly long stride. She's handled the ground but she'll be much better on good ground. She's a very smart two-year-old."
Clive Cox was full of praise for runner-up Nando Parrado, who came out clear second best.
"We were expecting a good performance and he clearly delivered exactly that," said Cox. "Although the form hasn’t worked out particularly well from the Coventry it proves his win was no fluke and he’s a horse that we’re very pleased with in terms of his progress. That was a very solid performance."
Read more Deauville reaction:
Is Prix Morny winner Campanelle a sprint sensation or Classic contender?
York-dodger Dettori heading home with two Group 1s, wine, baguettes and cheese
Fortune favours the brave as Fanshawe and Mendizabal combine for Audarya success
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Published on 23 August 2020inReports
Last updated 18:53, 23 August 2020
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