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Zarkava works toward French One Thousand Guineas His Highness The Aga Khan's unbeaten ZARKAVA (Zamindar) delighted connections in a gallop on Tuesday as she prepares for Sunday's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas) (Fr-G1) at Longchamp. Last year's impressive Prix Marcel Boussac (Fr-G1) scorer, who returned in the same vein in the course-and-distance Prix de la Grotte (Fr-G3) on April 13, came through her gallop at Chantilly's Les Aigles in style. "She worked with two older horses and certainly seemed to appreciate the better ground," trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre told the Racing Post. "It was a very satisfactory piece of work and she won her gallop in a canter." Potential challengers were on the wane Wednesday as the list was cut to 17, and will likely decrease further as the week wears on. Trainer Jim Bolger has left in Monday's Athasi S. (Ire-G3) winner PRIMA LUCE (Galileo [Ire]), but she will only line up if the ground softens. "She worked very well a month ago and was going to run, but her blood sample wasn't quite right and for 10 days afterwards she was very quiet and wasn't very well," her trainer told PA Sport on Tuesday. "She bounced back in the last couple of weeks, I took the chance of running her yesterday and it came off. If the ground at Longchamp came up very soft, I'd give serious consideration to running there as she is very well. If it's anything other than soft, we will miss it as it will be a hot race." Ireland will be represented by the Ballydoyle duo HALFWAY TO HEAVEN (Pivotal) and PSALM (Sadler's Wells), who were second and seventh, respectively, in the April 6 Leopardstown One Thousand Guineas Trial (Ire-G3). Of the British challengers, Jaber Abdullah's Albany S. (Eng-G3) winner NIJOOM DUBAI (Noverre) and Robert Barnett's Fred Darling S. (Eng-G3) scorer DREAM DAY (Oasis Dream [GB]) are intended runners. Watering is underway currently, with the track officials looking to provide good ground on Sunday.
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