Heartbreak for Kieran Shoemark as French 1,000 Guineas win on Shes Perfect is overturned by stewards

Scenes of jubilation turned to ashes in the Longchamp winner’s enclosure as the huge travelling contingent with the Basher Watts Syndicate had the dream of a Classic win with Shes Perfect taken away after the stewards reversed the placings with the fast-finishing Zarigana. 

The drama denied Charlie Fellowes a first Group 1 success and led to the demotion of Kieran Shoemark at the end of a week in which he lost the job as first jockey to John and Thady Gosden, only to be thrown a Classic lifeline by Fellowes with the rides on Shes Perfect and Poulains fourth Luther. 

Shes Perfect, who was just getting the better of Mandanaba halfway up the straight, shifted out into the path of Exactly, with Zarigana the third domino in the chain. Shoemark was lightning-quick in rebalancing his filly but, with the distance a rapidly diminishing nose at the line, there was clear grounds for Zarigana's rider Mickael Barzalona to at least lodge an objection. 

None of that will have softened the blow for everyone connected with Shes Perfect, who had finished a neck behind Zarigana in the Prix de la Grotte a month ago and who looked for 15 minutes to have gained glorious revenge. 

Shoemark would have had every right to hide behind his shades on the way out and say nothing, but he showed admirable powers of perspective in the aftermath.

“I’m gutted for the connections but we’ve got a wonderful filly," he said. "She’s really exciting going forward and I’m sorry for the connections that it didn't happen.

“We’ll get over today and I’m sure we’ll see her at Ascot, she’s a wonderful filly.”

• Full replay of the French 1,000 Guineas

At the end of a week when he has been at the eye of a media storm following the Gosdens’ decision to revert to a “best-available-rider policy”, Shoemark said he had been touched by the number of messages he had received.

“I’ve had an incredible amount of support throughout this last five, six days,” he said. “Even just walking back in then off the filly, my phone has been red-hot. It’s another twist on the rollercoaster of emotions, but we move on, we keep going. I’m a big boy, I’ve got broad shoulders and we’ll move on.”

There was tough medicine being handed out all round before and after the decision to reverse the placings, as the Aga Khan team and Francis Graffard considered the prospect of Zarigana losing a second Group 1 by a nose, seven months on from the Prix Marcel Boussac. 

Shes Perfect (left) and Zarigana fight out the finish to the French 1,000 GuineasCredit: APRH / QUENTIN BERTRAND

When news of the reversal came through, Princess Zahra Aga Khan instinctively thought of her late father, with Zarigana the 100th individual Group/Grade 1 winner to carry the famous emerald silks since he took over the operation in 1960.

“We’re all always seeking fair play on the racecourse," she said. "That’s racing, there was movement in the peloton. But overall I'm so, so happy for my father.”

Zarigana is a granddaughter of the matchless Zarkava and by the Aga Khan Stud’s star stallion, Siyouni.

Graffard has had to walk the tightrope of managing expectations for a filly who combines the very best bloodlines ever produced by His Highness, and the tension was etched on his face as the stewards made their deliberations.

After the presentation, he said: “It was a tough few minutes and we don’t like to win so I feel sorry for the connections of Shes Perfect because they had the joy. But this is the sport, this is racing and it has happened to me in the past.

Mickael Barzalona gives a thumbs-up after the result had been reversed by the Longchamp stewardsCredit: APRH / QUENTIN BERTRAND

“To be fair to my filly she got really unbalanced at the wrong time and there was only a nose in it.

“I’m very happy for her especially – there’s a lot of expectation and she deserved a win like that. It would've been very frustrating to have finished second, beaten a nose again.”

Charlie Fellowes: 'In England it would have stood, but we’re not in England'

Graffard will aim third home Mandanaba at the Prix de Diane, while Zarigana could stay at a mile for her next start, potentially in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. 

There is a fair chance she could meet Shes Perfect for a third time there, though an understandably bruised-and-battered Fellowes will take his time before making a plan, and before deciding whether to appeal against the stewards' decision.

“I don’t know the rules over here,” said Fellowes. “They're going to let us know the process and explain. I thought it was minimal and a long way out and was very surprised.

“I was worried about the ground and that it would be plenty quick enough for her. She’s more versatile than I realised and is so tough. When they came to her she found another gear.

No decision has been made yet on whether Charlie Fellowes will appeal the stewards' call to demote Shes Perfect Credit: Alan Crowhurst

“I need to speak to some people and get some advice on whether it’s worth appealing. In England it would have stood, but we’re not in England." 

Fellowes added: “I think she’ll stay ten but she just needs to learn to settle, at the moment she needs to do everything on her terms. If she just relaxes she’ll get ten no problem, but she’s just nearly won a Classic over a mile so there’s no need to step up in trip quite yet. We’ll maybe think about it at the end of the year.”

Fellowes never hid his enthusiasm for Shes Perfect and Poulains fourth Luther in the run-up to a huge day in his career, one which has featured a couple of notably bad bounces of the ball at both Royal Ascot and Flemington. 

For ten minutes or so he was a Group 1-winning trainer, and the racing gods will have reserved a particularly cruel punishment for him if that omission is not rectified soon.

Read more:

'Class' Delacroix emerges as a huge Epsom contender with powerful display in Derby Trial 

Unerring Aidan O'Brien finds the target again as Ryan Moore masterclass gets Henri Matisse home in French 2,000 Guineas thriller 

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