By Tom Frary
If recent history is anything to go by, Thursday's crowd at Cagnes-sur-Mer could have been looking at a future Group 1 winner as Frankish prevailed in what is becoming a storied maiden.
Three years after the Prix Ace Impact was won its former guise by the illustrious colt after which it is now named, the 10-furlong test on the sand which has seen two other subsequent top-level winners come to the fore produced another highly promising newcomer.
Unsurprisingly, the Wertheimers' son of Lope De Vega and the 1,000 Guineas heroine Miss France (Dansili) was sent off the 3-1 second favourite behind the Rouget colt Armano (Waldgeist), who as a half-brother to Ace Impact himself and the 2024 winner of this race in Arrow Eagle (Gleneagles) was always going to be popular.
In the event, the more stoutly-bred Waltraut Spanner homebred was never able to get into the race in any meaningful sense while the Yann Barberot-trained Frankish travelled with menace restrained under cover in third under Hugo Journiac. While the 19-10 market-leader Armano could only stay on into fifth, the winner overhauled Jean-Claude Seroul's Cosmic Boy (De Treville) approaching the furlong pole and on to a convincing two-length success.
“He's a colt that is held in high esteem at the yard, but this is the first time I've sat on him,” Journiac said. “We were confident beforehand and we'll have to see where he goes now.”
Frankish has big boots to fill now, with last year's Grand Prix de Paris hero Leffard (Le Havre) having become the third straight Prix Ace Impact to register a victory at the highest level.
The high-class dam, who also captured the G3 Oh So Sharp Stakes and was runner-up in the Prix Rothschild and Sun Chariot, had produced four foals prior to this with only the first making the track. That was Galileo's Miss Lara, who in turn produced the Listed Derby du Languedoc winner Croquis (Pinatubo).
The second dam is the Prix Marcel Boussac winner and Prix de Diane runner-up Miss Tahiti (Tirol), whose descendants include the Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero Dubai Mile (Roaring Lion) and the Australian Group winners Steinem (Frankel), Mask Of Time (Holy Roman Emperor) and Surf Dancer by Lope De Vega. The family also features the Beverly D winner England's Legend (Lure).
A horse to follow? 👀
The well-bred Frankish (Lope De Vega x Miss France) lands the Ace Impact Stakes on debut… pic.twitter.com/7UhCsgoSKg
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) January 15, 2026
2nd-Cagnes-sur-Mer, €21,000, Debutantes, 1-15, 3yo, c/g, 10f (AWT), 2:05.39, st.
FRANKISH (IRE) (c, 3, Lope De Vega {Ire}–Miss France {Ire} {G1SW-Eng, G1SP-Fr, $712,781}, by Dansili {GB}) Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, €10,500. O-Wertheimer et Frere; B-Dayton Investments Ltd; T-Yann Barberot.
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