My Calyx Cen sets up potential Royal Ascot tilt with victory in key trial at Chantilly
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My Calyx Cen beat four British and Irish fillies and a select group of the best three-year-old sprinters from France and Italy to set up a potential trip to Royal Ascot for owners Yeguada Centurion and his Spanish-born, Pau-based trainer, Patrik Olave Valdivielso.
The imposing son of Calyx was given a positive ride by Aurelien Lemaitre in the Group 3 Prix Sigy, which has provided three of the 11 winners of the Commonwealth Cup since its inaugural running at the royal meeting in 2015.
My Calyx Cen matched strides with Argentine Tango before taking over inside the two-furlong marker and was always holding the challenges of Kimi Rey and Afjan.
The success was all the more remarkable for the fact that My Calyx Cen began his career over a mile and was dropping back again in trip at 5½f, having scored a recent Listed success over 6½f on his first foray as a sprinter.
"He was in the Djebel last week [over seven furlongs] but I think we made the right choice coming here to test him as a sprinter," said Valdivielso, celebrating his first Group-race success in France. "We expected him to win on his debut but he was beaten by a good horse of Christophe Ferland [Lyneham] and after that he confirmed what we thought of him.
"He's won four in a row now, so he's undoubtedly a good horse. I need to discuss it with his owners but we had talked beforehand about going to Ascot for the Commonwealth Cup if all went well here."
Valdivielso trains 12 horses for Yeguada Centurion, the ownership vehicle of Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, whose blue and white silks have shone in recent years thanks to the exploits of Blue Rose Cen and Big Rock, who won the 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot under Lemaitre.
The Tim Easterby-trained Argentine Tango stuck to her task well under David Allan and was beaten less than a length in fourth.
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