Near miss convinces Haggas that Rivet is nailed on for British tilt at French 2,000 Guineas
TRAINER William Haggas was handed encouragement Rivet can this afternoon end a drought of British-trained winners in the French 2,000 Guineas when stablemate Sea of Grace went painfully close here to ending a barren spell almost as long in yesterday’s French 1,000 Guineas.
The chestnut filly, beaten by outsider Precieuse, was showing significant improvement on her comeback fifth to Daban in the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket last month and Haggas admitted he was hoping for a similar shift in form for Rivet.
The colt part owned by Haggas’ father-in-law Lester Piggott was beaten by a length and three-quarters in the Craven Stakes by subsequent 2,000 Guineas sixth Eminent.
Haggas said: ‘Rivet will be all right on the [soft] ground. I am very happy with him. I thought the English Guineas was tough and wanted to come here.
‘I didn’t think his Craven form got a great boost but, then again, Sea of Grace was well beaten in the Nell Gwyn. Let’s hope he makes the same improvement.’
The last British-based colt to win the French 2,000 Guineas, the Poule D’Essai Des Poulains, was Saeed Bin Suroor’s Frankie Dettoriridden Shamardal in 2005.
Dettori is on board Rivet, winner of the Group One Racing Post Trophy in October. His 12 opponents in the Abu Dhabi-sponsored Classic carrying a first prize of almost £300,000 include Andrew Balding’s South Seas and Michael Dods-trained Kings Gift.
Aidan O’Brien, who won the race for the fourth time last year with The Gurkha, runs Peace Envoy and Order of the garter. The home defence is led by Brametot and National Defense. No British-trained filly has won the race known as the Poule d’Essai Des Pouliches since John Gosden’s Zenda in 2002 but when Sea of Grace hit the front under Christophe Soumillon a furlong out, she looked to have made a winning move.
But she could not repel the thrust of Precieuse who raced in a separate group on the stands’ rail. The 28-1 shot was a third win in the French 1,000 for jockey Olivier Peslier and a first ever win at Group One level for trainer Fabrice Chappet.
Sea of Grace was trained by John Oxx in Ireland last year and Haggas is now eyeing a run in the Irish 1,000 Guineas in a fortnight’s time.
Haggas, who also won Ascot’s feature Victoria Cup with Josephine Gordonridden Fastnet Tempest, said: ‘She stayed on very well and gave us a shout.’
Meanwhile, turn-up of the day came Lingfield when the Aidan O’Brien juggernaut was halted, albeit probably temporarily,
as favourite Sir John Lavery could only finish sixth in the Derby Trial.
Victory went to Godolphin’s 7-1 shot Best Solution, trained by Bin Suroor. Best Solution is toppriced 16-1 for the Derby after his three and a quarter length win under Pat Cosgrave.
But it did not look strong form. Godolphin will be hoping for a stronger candidate when they plan to run five in Thursday’s Dante Stakes at York including Swiss Storm and Syphax.