Prix Jean Romanet Tips & Betting Preview

The Jessica Harrington trained Bocca Baciata (4/1) travels over to Deauville in France in a bid to land her first Group 1 on Sunday. This highly consistent filly seldom runs a bad race and always runs well in top class company so this is a golden opportunity for her to land a prestigious Group 1. She has won five of her sixteen starts in her career to date and was in the frame in another five which shows how consistent she is. She kicked the year off with a Listed success at Gowran Park (Steip Amach 6 lengths behind in 3rd) and ran a good race in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh when 4th to Fascinating Rock. She then chased Minding home in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes before landing a Group 2 at the Curragh when last seen. This is a golden opportunity for her as this is not a very strong Group 1.

Speedy Boarding (6/1) was bitterly disappointing in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in June. The James Fanshawe trained four year old filly was last of the five runners behind Minding and six lengths behind Bocca Baciata. If that run is anything to go by, she has a lot of work to do to turn the tables even if she wasn’t at her best. One thing she has in her favour is winning form in France so we know she can travel abroad and do the business. She won the Group 2 Prix Corrida at Saint Cloud in May but will need to improve on this season’s performances if she is to win this contest.

French trainer Andre Fabre is always respected in these top quality fields anywhere in the world and his filly Sayana (4/1), bred by the mighty Galileo, has to have serious place claims. Still very lightly raced, she clearly has had some training issues as she was off the track for a year between 2014 and 2015. However, she has never been out of the first two on all five starts to date. She got her season off to a winning start at Saint Cloud before moving on to win a Listed race at Chantilly over a mile. She travelled like a dream in the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom when last seen but just got outstayed by Epsom Icon in the closing stages. She is a progressive filly and looks the chief danger to our selection.

As this is not the strongest of Group 1’s you will see, there is every chance one of the more progressive types can step up and make their presence felt. One of those is the David Simcock trained Bateel (7/1) who won with plenty to spare at Newmarket in Listed company over a mile and a half on heavy ground in June. I find it interesting that they step her back down in trip as she looks an out and out stayer but they have opted to take their chance. Even though she won over this trip on debut, she could be tapped for toe in the closing stages against a couple of more pacy types.