Blue Rose Cen blossoms in Boussac for Christopher Head

Blue Rose Cen was an impressive winner of the Group One Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac at ParisLongchamp.

Trained by Christopher Head and ridden by Aurelien Lemaitre, the Group One event for juvenile fillies was run at a decent clip for the testing conditions at the Paris track, and having travelled powerfully in third early on in the two-turn event, she shot clear at the cutaway.

Jim Bolger’s Gan Teorainn ran a huge race to stay on nicely to grab second, despite having no chance with the winner.

Aidan O’Brien’s Never Ending Story, who had suffered trouble in running when fourth in the Moyglare, again did not have the best of luck, with Ryan Moore having to extract the filly from a pocket before making her challenge. She quickened nicely when seeing daylight, but having looked set for second, was eventually pipped and settled for third.

“Obviously it’s very important to win a race on a day like this, especially because I wanted to prove to everyone that our yard is capable of winning these kind of races,” said Head.

“I have been training since 2018 and at the beginning of this year I received some very good horses, so it’s great that they can now shine on the greatest level.

“This filly won a Group Three here over the same trip and the same ground. This was obviously a step up in class, but everything was going the right way and hopefully she has a great career ahead of her.”

On future plans, he added: “She is invited to the Breeders’ Cup and there are a few options in France.

“We have seen she is very likely to stay a mile and a quarter, but I want to discuss with the owner before making any plans.”

Jim Bolger said of the runner-up: “One way or another, she’s going to be a next year filly.

“Today they didn’t go very fast and only raced for the final furlong and a half. Next year we will probably start her at a mile and a quarter and she should get a mile and a half.”

O’Brien said of Never Ending Story: “She ran very well. Ryan thought she was definitely going to be second but she came third, so she might be a little bit weak and will improve through the winter.

“She could run in the Breeders’ Cup Fillies Turf Mile, but we’ll have to see how she comes out of it.”