French racing’s new star Ace Influence maintained his unbeaten document within the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville.
Jean-Claude Rouget’s three-year-old grabbed the headlines when displaying an electrifying flip of foot within the Prix de Jockey Membership in June, coming from a great distance again to beat Massive Rock.
Off the monitor for 72 days, Ace Influence was very eager within the early levels underneath Cristian Demuro earlier than dropping in on the rear of the sphere, with solely had one behind him for a lot of the race as stablemate Cambronne set the tempo.
Aidan O’Brien had two runners in Breeders’ Cup winner Victoria Highway and Greenland, whereas his son Joseph fielded Al Riffa, a Group One winner as a juvenile final season.
They mounted a stern problem and had their probabilities, however Ace Influence made up loads of floor within the straight and grabbed the lead in sight of the publish.
Nevertheless, he needed to battle with Al Riffa, who completed three-quarters of a size adrift in second, with Birr Citadel an additional head again in third and Greenland coming dwelling fourth.
Paddy Energy left the winner unchanged as their 7/2 favorite for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, nevertheless, Coral eased him barely to 9/2 from 4/1.
“We must focus on his future with the companions (Gousserie Racing and Ecuries Serge Stempniak) – both he may have one other race earlier than the Arc or go straight to the massive one,” Rouget instructed Thoroughbred Daily News.
“We may have much less strain on than we did immediately, as these races are very troublesome to name beforehand. There’s a lot at stake with a horse that’s an undefeated, good winner of the Prix du Jockey Membership and who has been partly bought since.
“You do not need to lose, you do not know if the horse nonetheless needs to battle, if the race shall be tactical, if he’s prepared sufficient realizing very effectively that he’s not 100 per cent as a result of that is how I do issues.
“You would see early within the race that he was eager, as a result of he’s recent, however as soon as the race went into a very good rhythm, he relaxed.
“He confirmed the identical acceleration and simply idled a bit on the finish, as he wanted the race. It’s a huge aid for all the explanations I discussed.”