Midday stays hot in Vermeille; Sariska retired after second refusal

Midday stays hot in Vermeille; Sariska retired after second

refusal

"She needed the race today, as it would have been too long to

wait from

the Yorkshire Oaks to Churchill Downs, so that will set her up perfectly.

"I love the Arc," Cecil told PA Sport, "but the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare

Turf is her race."

"She ticks more boxes this year," Queally said, "and if she turns up in

America like this, I think she can win again."

Plumania held second by a half-length from a fast-finishing Sarafina, who

just edged out Ashiyla and Sarah Lynx (Montjeu [Ire]). Another 2 1/2 lengths

back came Dariole (Highest Honor [Fr]) in sixth, followed by Peinture Rare

(Sadler's Wells), High Heeled (High Chaparral [Ire]), Never Forget (Westerner),

Lady's Purse, Enora and the non-participating Sariska.

Both Plumania and

Sarafina are headed to the Arc.

Pierre-Yves Bureau, racing manager for Plumania's

owner-breeder Wertheimer et Frere, was pleased with her first start back since

taking the June 27 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1).

"She ran an

excellent race there

and we are very happy, so she will take her chance in the Arc," Bureau said.

Sarafina, last seen capturing the June 13 Prix de Diane (French Oaks)

(Fr-G1), is also eligible to move forward off this Arc prep.

"We had slowed down a lot with her after the Diane and she really needed

the race there," trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre said. "Also, in the false straight about four out she seems to have come

onto the bit a

little too early and maybe paid for that effort in the end. She should improve a

lot and seems to stay, so we will stick to our original plan and come back for

the Arc."

Trainer Michael Bell promptly told PA Sport that Sariska was retired.

"It has been a great journey, but that is the end of the road," Bell said.

"We've done everything we could and she didn't come out, so enough is enough."

Last year's champion three-year-old filly in Europe, Sariska also captured

the Musidora S. (Eng-G3) and placed in last year's Yorkshire Oaks and Champion

S. (Eng-G1). Her first two outings this season were promising -- a victory over

Midday in the May 13 Middleton S. (Eng-G2) and a runner-up effort to Fame and

Glory (Montjeu [Ire]) in the June 4 Coronation Cup (Eng-G1). That was the last

time she consented to race. Sariska retires with a record of 5-2-1 from 11 races

(including her two refusals) and £728,724 in

earnings.

Midday now brandishes a mark of 15-7-3-3,

£1,548,362. An impressive winner of the 2009 Lingfield Oaks Trial, she just

missed to Sariska in the Oaks at Epsom and finished a well-beaten third to the

same rival in the Irish Oaks on heavy ground. Midday broke through with

her first top-level coup in last summer's Nassau S. (Eng-G1), and prepped for

her first Breeders' Cup tilt with a creditable third in the Prix de l'Opera

(Fr-G1).

Opening her four-year-old campaign in the

Middleton at York, Midday stayed on for runner-up honors behind Sariska, whom she was spotting five pounds. Midday exited the race jarred up by

the firm ground, and Cecil didn't return her to action until midsummer.

She rewarded his patience by winning the July 31 Nassau for the second straight

year, and followed up with a commanding victory in the aforementioned Yorkshire

Oaks.

Bred in Great Britain, Midday is out of the English stakes-placed Midsummer (Kingmambo),

who is herself a half-sister to eight stakes performers -- chief among them Oaks

heroine and English highweight Reams of Verse (Nureyev), as well as multiple

Group 1 victor and Irish highweight Elmaamul (Diesis [GB]). This is also the

family of Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) hero and multiple highweight Zafonic

(Gone West) and Group 3 winner Zamindar (Gone West), the sire of unbeaten

champion Zarkava.

In other Sunday action at Longchamp, the Aga Khan's homebred BEHKABAD (Cape

Cross [Ire]) shored up his position as the antepost favorite for the Arc by

getting up in time in the €130,000 Prix Niel

(Fr-G2) for sophomores. Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget and ridden by Christophe-Patrice

Lemaire, Behkabad outdueled his archrival Planteur (Danehill Dancer) by a head

in a final time of 2:30 4/5, fastest of the three Arc trials on the day. The

pair drew four lengths clear of Kidnapping (Intikhab) in third, with Japanese

shipper Victoire Pisa (Neo Universe) the same margin away in fourth in the

seven-horse field.

The top two were dispatched as 9-5 co-favorites

in the wake of their domination of the July 14 Grand Prix de Paris (Fr-G1),

where Behkabad defeated Planteur by three-quarters of a length. Behkabad, who

capped an unbeaten juvenile season with a victory in the Prix des Chenes

(Fr-G3), also landed the Prix de Guiche (Fr-G3) this spring. His lone unplaced

effort was a fourth in the June 6 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (Fr-G1).

"He is a brave horse and has never run a bad race," Rouget said. "A mile and a half is his best trip and when you go back to the Prix du

Jockey Club, you will see he is the only horse finishing well. He didn't have a

hard race today,

as this wasn't the target and we'll bring him back for the Arc."

"My

horse (Planteur) has run very well again," trainer Elie

Lellouche said, "and the last time he was a bit further behind Behkabad and was

not 100 percent. We will being him back for the Arc and, as he's

still a

lightly-raced horse, I think there is more improvement to come, so we'll hope for

the best."

In the €130,000 Prix Foy (Fr-G2), the Arc trial

for older horses, Normandie Stud's homebred DUNCAN (Dalakhani) claimed another

notable victory for trainer John Gosden and rider William Buick. One day after

the yard captured the St Leger (Eng-G1) with the Breeders' Cup-bound Arctic

Cosmos (North Light [Ire]), Duncan made the most of a canny front-running ride.

The 12-1 shot was headed in the stretch, but came again to fend off the Japanese colt Nakayama Festa

(Stay Gold) and Timos (Sholokhov) and prevail by three-quarters of a

length. Duncan took 2:35 4/5 to finish the 1 1/2-mile test, earning his biggest

career victory.

None of the late runners got involved in a race

dominated by the leader and stalkers. Following Nakayama Festa and Timos under

the line was even-money favorite Byword (Peintre Celebre), who was stretching

out to this distance for the first time. Next came Daryakana (Selkirk) and

United Nations S. (G1) winner Chinchon (Ire) (Marju).

"We expected a typical French race with not much pace and so it was the

English

horse who made it," Gosden said. "Even though he was caught for speed

turning for home,

he stayed on nicely and it was a satisfactory performance. We'd love to come

back for the first Sunday in October, but we'll have to see if the owner wants

to supplement him."

Duncan, who was exiting a fourth in the July 30

Glorious S. (Eng-G3) at Goodwood, had previously finished runner-up to the

world's superstar Harbinger in the June 19 Hardwicke S. (Eng-G2) at Royal

Ascot. His only prior stakes coup had come in the 2009 Buckhounds S. at Ascot.