Chantilly Prix De Diane Longines Tips & Betting Preview

Despite a significant number of raiders over the years, the British and Irish horses do not do too well historically here with John Gosden’s Star of Seville in 2015 and Sir Mark Prescott’s Confidential Lady in 2006 the only winners in the last eighteen years. Sometimes referred to as the French Oaks, it is less of a stamina test being a mile and a quarter, but has seen winners of the calibre of Zarkava, Stacelita, and even the mighty Treve and this year looks as competitive as ever with eight of the sixteen declarations a winner last time out.

IN SUMMARY: A tough one to call with the unbeaten pair of Shutter Speed and Terrakova open to any amount of improvement but RHODODENDRON looks ideally suited by this trip and deserves a win after placing second in both the English 1000 Guineas and the English Oaks.

With a full field expected it makes good sense to limit the preview to those with solid win or each way chances, and that means a place on the shortlist for John Gosden’s Shutter Speed, an unbeaten daughter of Dansili who has been brought along sensibly by her astute trainer with a maiden win at Yarmouth her only race at two. Reappearing at Newbury in a Conditions Stakes over a mile and a quarter, she only needed to be pushed out to the line by Frankie Dettori for a two and a half-length success from Raheen House, though he let the form down next time out when only third in a Listed race at Goodwood. Her best run yet was at York in the Musidora Stakes when taking that Group Three by a keeping on length and three quarters, but sadly she missed Epsom but was always aimed here with her stamina in question over a mile and a half. They say you never know how good a horse is until they are beaten and she could be very good indeed, but at her current price she is no real value and it may be better to look elsewhere.

Aiden O’Brien has a stable packed full of talent once again this season and has decided that he only needs the one entry here which is unusual in itself. 1000 Guineas and Oaks runner-up Rhododendron is certainly a class act and deserves a Group One win this season after running on well after being caught short of room over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket and then being outstayed at Epsom over the mile and a half, and there is every possibility that this trip will prove to be ideal. She did win three races as a juvenile including the Group Two Debutante Stakes at The Curragh and then the Dubai Fillies Mile at Newmarket, and today could well be her day to add to those with Ryan Moore in the saddle.

French trainer Jean-Claude Rouget has won this race four times in the last eight years making him impossible to ignore, and he relies on the relatively unexposed Onthemoonagain this year, who will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon. A daughter of Cape Cross, she has won three of her four races but failed when upped to Group Three class at Deauville in October in the Prix De Reservoirs though she may well have had enough for the season. Returning at Toulouse in a Listed race she won a shade cleverly by a couple of lengths from Layali over this trip, and her trainer is in good form with three winners from just the nine runners in the last two weeks for an exceptional 33% success rate.

Amazingly, Freddie Head has never won this race as a trainer (he has as a jockey), but he looks to have a good chance of rectifying that this afternoon with Terrakova, an unbeaten daughter of Galileo out of Goldikova, so bred to be a superstar. One race at two saw her bolt up at Chantilly in a maiden on the polytrack, after which she was put away to grow ahead of her three-year-old career. Returning at Saint-Cloud in the Group Three Prix Cleopatre she won despite getting in to trouble in running which will have taught her plenty, and she looks a major player once again this Sunday afternoon.

Trainer Andre Fabre has the respect of everyone in the racing world, and rightly so, he runs the Godolphin owned Kitesurf here after her mile and a half win at Chantilly last time out, at the beginning of the month. A daughter of the great Dubawi, she seems to have more stamina than her breeding suggests and will need a solid early pace to have any chance here with a sprint finish surely against her. She deserves a mention if only because her trainer has had seven winners from his last thirty runners for a 23% success rate but others do appeal that little bit more over this trip.

One more each way alternative to round off the preview and Madame Pia Brandt has the best recent record with her runners thanks to two winners from her last nine runners for a 22% strike rate, but perhaps more importantly, a 21.90 point profit to level stakes. She runs outsider Normandie here who has a lot to do after a very poor eighth on her return to action at Chantilly but with her stable in such good heart, a big run at an even bigger price is not an impossibility.