Small but competitive field assembled for Prix Rothschild

A small but select field is assembled for Sunday's Group 1,

€300,000 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, with Cheveley Park Stud's

Integral in pole position following her win in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket

on July 11.

Previously, the Dalakhani homebred had re-opposing L'Amour de Ma Vie two lengths

back in second in the June 18 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot and should

have the measure of that rival once again in this one-mile contest.

"She's

been very progressive this season and was most impressive in the Falmouth. She remains in good form at home,"

the Stud's Managing Director Chris Richardson told PA Sport.

"There are only four going to post, but

the other three are all top-class in their own right so it's a

trappy little race. We now know she's as effective on ground

with a bit of cut as fast ground, so we're unconcerned on that

front.

"We're happy to keep her to a mile for now, as we know

she's very effective at it, but there's a possibility of her

staying in training next year and we may look at having another go at

10 furlongs then."

Back in ninth in the Duke of Cambridge was Baron

Edouard de Rothschild's Esoterique,

who had previously caught a ring-rusty Integral unawares

when besting her in the Dahlia Stakes going nine furlongs at Newmarket on May 4.

Esoterique's stablemate Miss France failed to stay the 10 1/2-furlong trip of the Prix de Diane at

Chantilly last out on June 15 and will be more at home back the Rothschild's mile,

a distance over which she annexed the

One Thousand Guineas at Newmarket on May 4.

"She endured a bit of bad luck in the Diane -- she got

stopped in her tracks just as she was quickening up," Anthony Stroud,

spokesman for owners Ballymore Thoroughbred Ltd.'s, told PA Sport. "Her dam was second in that race so I wouldn't say

she didn't stay, I just think the winner is very good. They went a slow pace and it was one

of those things. If you ran the race again you may see a different result but the winner is

very good, there's no doubting that. That was only her third race of the season and she'd

won the Guineas before that, so we know she's very effective over a mile."

Stroud noted that

with the short field, the race will become a tactical affair.

"There are only four fillies but

the other three are very good indeed, it will be very competitive," he said. "It could be a messy

race like we saw for the Sussex (Stakes at Glorious Goodwood) this week. I hope one of the

others decides to go on, but if nothing does we have the option. It's very hard to make all over a

straight mile, though."

As far as juvenile contests go, the Group 3,

€80,000 Prix de Cabourg earlier on the Deauville program will go a long way toward sorting out the wheat from the chaff as several

exciting prospects line up for an intriguing edition of this prep for the Prix Morny.

Heading the list is Guy Pariente's filly Kenouska, who scored by five lengths

in the listed Prix des Reves d'Or going five furlongs at Vichy on July 24 after

meeting her match by trying to give Al Naamah seven

pounds when second in a June 23 conditions event at Chantilly.

Of the colts, Peter Rechsteiner's unbeaten El Suizo sets the form standard after annexing the

June 7 listed Prix la Fleche at Chantilly, while Antoine Gilibert's listed Prix Yacowlef scorer

Mocklershill is one of a clutch of unexposed contenders.

They also include His

Highness The Aga Khan's Ervedya, a filly unbeaten in two starts at Tarbes on May 29 and Maisons-Laffitte

on June 24, and Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's

Courtofversailles, an Andre Fabre-trained colt who scored in his July 18 debut

over Sunday's six-furlong trip at Chantilly.

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