Hills waits on Deauville sunshine before making Dutch call

Charlie Hills will leave a decision on whether Dutch Connection takes his chance in Sunday’s Group 1 LARC Prix Maurice de Gheest until the morning of the race, in the hope the Deauville track will continue to dry out.

A midday penetrometer reading of 3.5 for racing on Friday was at the driest end of soft on the scale, while Gregory Benoist reported the ground had “dried out a little bit more” by the sixth race.

Hills said: “We have people on hand keeping an eye on it and the horse won’t travel till Sunday morning. I would love to run the horse and if it is dry from now until the time of the race then there is a good chance it will dry up. I don’t think we would be too confident if there is any soft in the description.”