CAIRN GORM RISES TO THE CHALLENGE
CAIRN GORM scaled new heights at Deauville yesterday with victory in the Group 3 Darley Prix de Cabourg.
The son of Bated Breath, trained by Mick Channon, had looked the part when making a winning racecourse debut at Windsor in June and followed up with a narrow verdict in a novice auction event at Newbury last month.
Stepping up to Group level in France, Cairn Gorm was an 11-4 chance under Tom Marquand – and having travelled smoothly in the middle of the pack for much of the way, the chestnut colt finished strongly to run out a decisive winner.
Channon (above) said: “We’re delighted with him. We thought he was a nice horse, but he had to step up today and he has.
“He’s won a Group 3 going away, so we’ll have to think about taking him back to Deauville for the Prix Morny later in the month.”
The hot favourite for the race was the Archie Watson-trained Mighty Gurkha, having finished fifth in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and second in the Rose Bowl at Newbury on his two most recent starts.
However, Hollie Doyle’s mount was still wearing a blindfold when the stalls opened and consequently badly missed the break.
Doyle managed to get Mighty Gurkha back into contention, but his effort petered out in the final furlong and finished a well-beaten sixth. Watch Me dug deep to claim her second victory at Group 1 level in the Prix Rothschild.
A surprise winner of the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer, Francis-Henri Graffard’s charge began her four-year-old campaign with an impressive Listed victory at the course three weeks ago and was the 4-5 favourite to follow up.
Charlie Appleby’s British raider Summer Romance made the running, but as her challenge petered out in the final furlong, Watch Me found a gap against the rail and dug deep to secure top honours, with Half Light pipping Know It All to second. The third had been seeking to give her Johnny Murtagh his first Group 1 as a trainer.