Eminent shines at Deauville but Almanzor fails to fire

Eminent got back to winning ways at Deauville on Tuesday. Picture: Racingfotos.com

There were mixed fortunes for stars of the QIPCO British Champions Series at Deauville on Tuesday.

Eminent gained reward for three creditable runs in the Series this year – including a fourth in the Investec Derby – when making all the running under Ryan Moore in the Group Two Prix Guillaume d’Ornano Haras du Logis Saint-Germain.

The 17-5 chance, trained by Martyn Meade, stayed on strongly to win by three lengths from another British raider, the Sylvester Kirk-trained Salouen, who started at 25-1. First prize was just under £200,000.

Eminent’s future entries include the QIPCO Champion Stakes on British Champions Day at Ascot on October 21.

“I’m so thrilled for the horse,” Meade told At The Races: “He’s come through some difficult times and been thrown in the deep end, by me I have to say.

“He’s sort of struggled a little bit and never had the full running, whereas today he could bowl along and say ‘this is me, this is what I want to do’. He did it in great style.

“Beating a dual Classic winner [Brametot] in France is quite exciting stuff. That’s what made this race so great as well. There were lots of really good horses in it, but he was the one we were worried about. To come home in front of him is fantastic.

“The Guineas didn’t work out for him and I don’t think a mile is his distance.

“The Derby was absolutely on the nail for him really. He was bumped three times and maybe he wouldn’t have won, but certainly he should have been second or third.

“This is a really nice horse who is going to be a fantastic horse and the one thing I try to do is not overdo the horses. You can go too often. We’ve quite a few options as to what we can do and I’ll have to think about that pretty carefully.”

Almanzor, brilliant winner of the Champion Stakes last year, had been a long way below his best when making his belated return earlier on the card in the Group Three Prix Gontaut-Biron Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained four-year-old was sent off 1-2 favourite but failed to fire and trailed home fifth of six behind the Chris Wall-trained six-year-old First Sitting.