Globetrotting Edisa tackles new trip at Deauville in attempt to strike top form

Prix Gold River | Listed | 1m6f |4yo+ fillies & mares | SKY

Alain de Royer-Dupre looks to have found a good opportunity for globetrotting filly Edisa to reset the clocks after a below-par performance in the Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud in March.

On the evidence of 2019 the Aga Khan's daughter of Kitten's Joy holds a clear edge in class over her six rivals, and carries no penalty for her win last September in the Belmont Invitational Oaks.

Edisa rounded off a busy season with a trip to Sha Tin for the Longines Hong Kong Cup over a mile and a quarter, a race her jockey Stephane Pasquier felt was proof she needed stepping up in trip.

Royer-Dupre knows all about the family and while this is three furlongs further than Edisa has ever been on a racecourse, her dam stayed well and it is rather a doubt as to whether she can recapture her best form that seems to be preoccupying her trainer.

If either form or trip do find Edisa out, there are no shortage of candidates who could take advantage.

Lucky Lycra is probably best remembered for winning a Listed fillies' race over this trip at Maisons-Laffitte last September despite having a bite taken out of her by runner-up Palomba.

She subsequently failed to make an impact in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay over Arc weekend and this looks a more suitable grade to start her four-year-old season.

Amarena and Japanese legend Yutaka Take ahead of the 2019 Prix de Diane LonginesCredit: Racing Post/Scott Burton

If there is a filly who might match Edisa for class then it is the ex-German Amarena, who was bought as a Diane prospect by Japanese connections but has been off the track since disappointing in the Classic and has moved yards to join Pascal Bary.

The length of her absence and the hike in trip are a concern, though Bary did score with the classy Pretreville off a long layoff on Monday.

Both of Chantilly's resident Japanese trainers are represented, with Endorphine particularly interesting for Hiroo Shimzu if she can translate the heavy ground form of her second-placed effort behind the William Haggas-trained Monica Sheriff last October.

It is a mark of how staying form compares to evidence over middlle distances in the mind of the French handicapper that Muette is only fourth highest on ratings, despite finishing her campaign with a fine fourth behind Technician in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak.

The lightly raced Think Of Me will undoubtedly be popular on the Pari-Mutuel, due to Francis Graffard's fine form and the fact that she has a winning return under her belt at Fontainebleau in March.

What the trainers say

Francois Rohaut, trainer of Lucky Lycra
She has strengthened up a bit over the winter. Her preparation hasn’t been ideal but that is the same for everybody. This is a comeback run and I want to see whether she is up to this level.

Alain de Royer-Dupre, trainer of Edisa
She was disappointing on her comeback, that's for certain. She looks well now and we have worked her in the mornings to get her back to where she was. But I have no idea if we have succeeded. We're stepping her up in trip to try and boost her morale but nothing is assured before I see her run again. In terms of the change of venue, I would have preferred a longer home straight for her but we have no choice. It's 2,800 metres [one mile six furlongs] so she should have plenty of time to get going.

Francis Graffard, trainer of Think Of Me
She seems very well to me and she stays so it is a logical option. There might be two or three fillies with a little bit more class in the race but she is in good form. She could have run in the Prix de Barbeville on Sunday but I preferred to keep her to her own sex for what should not be as a hard a race.

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