Dubai: Godolphin’s Persian King, last year’s French 2,000 Guineas (G1) hero, was a smart winner of the Group 2 Prix du Muguet over a mile as Saint-Cloud racecourse in France hosted a busy 10-race card on Saturday.
With Pierre-Charles Boudot in the saddle, the four-year-old Kingman colt made most of the running before holding off Pretreville and Christophe Soumillion by a length and a quarter with just under two furlongs left but the Kingman colt rallied strongly, finding plenty under pressure to reassert inside the final furlong and score by a length and a quarter.
Trained by the legendary Andre Fabre, Persian King was victorious over the same trip in last year’s Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French Guineas).
Boudot told the Godolphin website: “Persian King did it very well today and it’s very good to see him back winning. I felt the horses coming on the outside of me in the straight but Persian King has good stamina and stayed very well in the last furlong.
“He improved today from his first start of the year and there is still more to come. I think his next target is the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan (Chantilly, Sunday, 19 July) and I am sure that another furlong will be OK for him.”
However, Godolphin’s globetrotter Old Persian looked out of sorts when he ran a tame race in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud under Mickael Barzalona, with the jockey easing the son of Dubawi down to finish last of five when he found that he could offer no more in a race won by Way To Paris.
The Charlie Appleby ward, who captured the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) at Meydan and Canada’s Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (G1) during a busy 2019 campaign, was bidding for a third successive Group 1 success.
Meanwhile in England, Eastern World and William Buick won a maiden’s race at Newmarket in the Godolphin colours while at Windsor’s nine-race meeting, the Godolphin-bred Baarrij also landed a maiden stakes for Major General. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police and Public Security. There was also success for Derby-winning Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, whose Repartee claimed the Listed Carnarvon Stakes.
