French Fantastique

                                      
PRIX JEAN PRAT - GROUP 1
(1 Mile -Sunday, July 4 at Chantilly)

1 SIYOUNI   Lemaire C

2 SORMIOU   Roussel L

3 XTENSION   Kirby A
             
4 LOPE DE VEGA   Guyon M 
            
5 FROZEN POWER   Dettori L 

6 DICK TURPIN   Moore R

7 HEARTS OF FIRE   Fortune J

8 JOANNA   No Rider

All eyes will be on the new French superstar, Lope De Vega, who has thoroughly impressed with wins in the Poule D'Essai Des Poulains and the Prix Du Jockey Club in his last two starts.  A third consecutive Group 1 win is the expectation and would make the Andre Fabre trainee the biggest thing in France short of the fantastic mare, Goldikova.  It will not be an easy task though, as he drops back down in distance from 1 5/16 and faces some of the toughest sophomore milers in Europe.  Chief among his potential vanquishers will be Dick Turpin and Hearts of Fire.  Dick Turpin has been a model of consistency with three straight 2nd place finishes in Group 1 miles in Europe, including a 1/2 length loss to the choice in the Poule D'Essai Des Poulains.  He is coming off a strong 2nd in the St. James's Palace to Canford Cliffs, and could capitalize by any slip up by Lope De Vega.  Speaking of the St. James's Palace, it was Hearts of Fire who many felt would have faired better than his 3rd place finish with any racing luck.  The belief is that his one bad showing in the English 2000 Guineas was not the real Hearts of Fire, making him a real threat on Sunday.  I like the Godolphin entry of Frozen Power, by way of Dubai and Germany, as the next biggest threat, although both Xtension and Siyouni have been close to the best of their generation in recent tries.