Too Darn Hot Takes the Prix Jean Prat

As it had been in Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse, the following day's G1 Prix Jean Prat proved easy pickings for a Gosden-Dettori axis in full swing as TDN Rising Star Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) brushed aside his rivals in front of Deauville's half-packed stands. Losing his tenure of office as generation leader when runner-up in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh May 25 and third in the June 18 G1 St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot, Lord Lloyd-Webber's homebred was back to his sizzling pomp in the unrelenting Normandy sunbeams to prove a point. Always comfortable travelling with his usual zest off seven-furlong pace carved out up the middle of the straight track by compatriot Fox Champion (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), the 9-10 favourite moved to take command approaching the 300-metre marker. Dettori asked for full effort soon after and he gave as generously as he had when sealing champion juvenile status at this distance in the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket in October. At the line, there was a yawning three-length gap to fellow TDN Rising Star Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), with Fox Champion holding on to third a further two lengths behind to make another British whitewash in France.

Gosden was in self-berating mood afterwards. “I was very stupid to run him over ten furlongs, as I've said before, because he's an extremely fast horse and had shown that last year,” he commented. “He's come back to his best trip and was brilliant. This is very quick ground today and he handled it well. He's got bundles of speed and even though we've done everything badly he's got us out of trouble. I think an easy mile is also no problem for him and I like the easy mile here on the straight course, so his next race could be the [Aug. 11 G1 Prix ] Jacques le Marois], or it could be the [G1] Sussex [S. at Goodwood July 31]. l have to wonder why two major European races on the racing calendar are only 11 days apart. Maybe the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita could be a possibility later in the season, but we'll take it one race at a time.”

Dettori added, “I'm pleased for the horse–he showed his old turn of foot and did everything right and put the race to bed good. It's good for the horse's confidence and there is more to come.” Lady Lloyd-Webber was also on hand to say, “We saw the real Too Darn Hot today and this is where we are starting our season, so let's forget about the rest. He's just a speed horse through and through and this is his perfect distance. It's a long year ahead and I'd be delighted to go to Los Angeles again. We had the longest winter with him and it could have been that he hadn't developed and improved as much as the others and that does happen, but in our heads he'd worked so brilliantly at home that none of us really lost faith in him. Everyone read it completely wrong, even the experts, but he's telling us something.”

Charlie Appleby said of Space Blues, who was backing up a second in the June 22 G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot, “He's run extremely well and was beaten by a good horse, so we have no complaints. It's time to give him a little break and most probably we'll think about the [Oct. 6 G1 Prix de la] Foret [at ParisLongchamp]. That will be a nice race for him later in the season.”

It is remarkable to think that Lah Ti Dar (GB) was running last Sunday as if the mile and a half of the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud was on the sharp side, given the abundant pace of her full-brother. Lah Ti Dar was also staying on stoutly at the end of the extended 14-furlong trip of the G1 St Leger in which she was runner-up in September and while she won the G2 Middleton S. over an extended 10 furlongs in May she is more in the mold of her dam, the triple group 1-winning Yorkshire Oaks heroine Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}). In the middle of Too Darn Hot and Lah Ti Dar trip-wise was the dam's third-best progeny, the talented G3 Musidora S. winner and G1 Prix de l'Opera third So Mi Dar (GB) also by Dubawi.

Dar Re Mi is one of four group 1 winners produced by the G1 Prix Vermeille heroine Darara (Ire) (Top Ville {Ire}) alongside the ill-fated Rewilding (GB) (Tiger Hill {Ire}) who had the speed to beat So You Think (NZ) in the G1 Prince of Wales's S., the G1 Ranvet S. hero Darazari (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup scorer Diaghilev (Ire) also by Sadler's Wells. From the family of the G1 Prix du Jockey Club-winning leading sire Darshaan (GB), Dar Re Mi's unraced 2-year-old full-brother to Too Darn Hot was bought by David Redvers for 3.5million gns when topping the Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale and is named Darain (GB). She also has a yearling filly again by Dubawi.

Sunday, Deauville, France
QATAR PRIX JEAN PRAT-G1, €400,000, Deauville, 7-7, 3yo, c/f, 7fT, 1:21.29, gd.
1–TOO DARN HOT (GB), 128, c, 3, by Dubawi (Ire)
1st Dam: Dar Re Mi (GB) (Hwt. Older Mare-Eng at 11-14f, G1SW-Eng, Ire & UAE, GSW & G1SP-Fr, GISP-US, $4,359,112), by Singspiel (Ire)
2nd Dam: Darara (Ire), by Top Ville (Ire)
3rd Dam: Delsy (Fr), by Abdos (Fr)
O-Lord Lloyd-Webber; B-Watership Down Stud (GB); T-John Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori. €228,550. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Eng & G1SP-Ire, 8-5-2-1, €813,632. *Full to Lah Ti Dar (GB), GSW & MG1SP-Eng, G1SP-Fr, $541,171; So Mi Dar (GB), GSW-Eng & G1SP-Fr, $242,742; and 1/2 to De Treville (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), MGSP-Fr, $114,187. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Space Blues (Ire), 128, c, 3, Dubawi (Ire)–Miss Lucifer (Fr), by Noverre. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby. €91,440.
3–Fox Champion (Ire), 128, c, 3, Kodiac (GB)–Folegandros Island (Fr), by Red Rocks (Ire). (75,000gns Wlg '16 TATFOA; £260,000 Ylg '17 GOUKPR; 420,000gns 2yo '18 TATBRE). O-King Power Racing Co Ltd; B-Con Marnane (IRE); T-Richard Hannon. €45,720.
Margins: 3, 2, 1HF. Odds: 0.90, 3.10, 24.00.
Also Ran: Munitions, Namos (Ger), Watan (GB), Pretty Boy (Ire), Graignes (Fr), Pure Zen (Fr), Urwald (GB), Azano (GB), Royal Marine (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.