Charyn storms to impressive Prix Jacques le Marois triumph

Charyn’s superb season continued as he ran out a convincing winner of the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville.

Roger Varian’s grey has not put a foot wrong all year, winning the Listed Doncaster Mile on debut and then following up in the bet365 Mile at Sandown.

At Group One level at Newbury he was runner-up in the Lockinge, after which he went one better at the same level when landing the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot.

As a result he was well fancied for his Deauville assignment, where he was ridden by Silvestre de Sousa in an initial field of eight that was then depleted as Richard Hannon’s Haatem was a late withdrawal.

Inspiral, John and Thady Gosden’s runner, was not for the first time slow to hit her stride, but Charyn was always handy travelling in the slipstream of race leader Big Rock.

Two furlongs from home Varian’s four-year-old began to lengthen his stride and from then on there was clearly going to be no catching him, with the success coming by three lengths on the line from French 2000 Guineas winner Metropolitan, with dual Marois heroine Inspiral in third.

“It was a very comfortable watch, I’m looking forward to seeing it again. He’s a great horse, he seems to be getting better and better,” said an emotional Varian. “He’s a horse who makes my job look easy and I just hope he stays sound.

“I don’t know what else to say, he made me cry. He’s such a beautiful horse. He was most impressive today in the way he put it to bed and he seems to be getting better and better. Some people forget he was a Group Two winner at two and now he’s the finished article.

“You don’t always know where you are with him, he’s very laid-back at home and he carries a lot of condition. I always wonder if I’ve done enough with him.

“He has a great mind, he’s very relaxed and he makes my job very easy. Silvestre is striking up a good relationship with him and I’m delighted for (owner) Nurlan Bizakov and his family. They put so much into the game.”

The race earned Charyn an automatic spot in the Breeders’ Cup Mile as part of the ‘Win and You’re in’ series, although the Queen Anne also gained him a spot in the race and Varian is at present looking closer to home for the colt’s next move.

He said: “He got a win-and-you’re-in from the Queen Anne, I’m not sure it’s a route we’ll go down. We have a lot of ground to cover before then, but it’s nice to be invited and it’s nice to have it as an option for the end of the year.

“We’ll have to see how he is after today’s race, he’s in the Moulin and he’s in the QEII, we like the idea of Ascot on Champions Day – it’s just whether we go to Longchamp on the way or not.

“He ran a cracker in the Lockinge when we were beaten by a good horse, but I felt it was a funny race and for him to win at Ascot was most important. Today he backed it up and I’m delighted.”

John Gosden felt Inspiral’s slow start scuppered her chances after she took several strides to get racing.

“I don’t think you can give horses of that class a six- or seven-length start, but she did,” he said of Ryan Moore’s mount.

“She’s never been quick out of the gate, but you won’t get away with it in a Group One race.

“She did it at Ascot once, but take that away and she’s run a really good race and on getting as close as she did has shown she’s in very good form.

“She’s a great character, as was her mother, and has run a huge race from an impossible position. Let’s hope she doesn’t do it again next time.”