Reynier: Facteur in top shape for big summer mission

Jerome Reynier’s Facteur Cheval has the Queen Anne in his sights as one of a trio of horses set to fly the flag for the Marseille-based stable at Royal Ascot.

Last term the gelding was brilliantly consistent but found victory elusive when placing in a string of Group races, coming home the runner-up in the Prix du Muget, the Sussex Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and placing third when narrowly beaten in the Prix d’Ispahan and the Prix du Moulin.

His reliability was rewarded at last when he returned to action in the Dubai Turf at Meydan in late March, where he enjoyed a lucrative success when striking at 20-1.

Having run twice outside of his homeland of France last season, Facteur Cheval will now travel back to Ascot to contest the Queen Anne Stakes over a mile as the Royal meeting gets under way in under three weeks.

“He is aiming for the Queen Anne on the Tuesday, he came back in very good shape from Dubai. We’re very happy with him,” Reynier said.

“Now he’s going to try to win a second time in a row after having not won for a long while.

“We don’t have any questions about good ground because he won on it in Dubai, and he’s done the straight course at Ascot for the Queen Elizabeth so everything seems to be in good shape for him.”

Joining him on journey will be Darlinghurst, a three-year-old Dark Angel colt who has not put a foot wrong in four starts this year.

Winning a pair of Cagnes-Sur-Mer contests early in the season, the bay then stepped up to Listed level to win the Prix Maurice Caillault at Chantilly in March and then returned to the same track to take the Group Three Prix de Guiche in May.

He now holds an entry for the St James’s Palace Stakes on the same day as his stablemate’s Queen Anne bid.

“That’s the plan with him, he’s in very good shape. He is unbeaten this year in four starts, he won his maiden, his conditions race, his Listed race and his Group Three,” said Reynier.

“Everything is in good order, the more he goes, the better he is. Last time out in the Prix de Guiche he won in very good fashion.

“He’s a son of Dark Angel and the dam (Dr Simpson) is a Group Three winner over five furlongs, so aiming for the French Derby over 300 metres more wouldn’t have been a good idea.

“He looks like a miler physically, it’s a stiff mile at Royal Ascot and it will be a great race to look forward to.

“It is going to be a pretty tough race because all the Guineas winners are aiming for this race, the English one, the Irish one, the French one, it’s going to be a very interesting race.

“We are very excited for the 18th of June to bring two good horses over for the Group Ones.”

The third horse set to make the trip over from France is Zarakem, who will aim to put defeat in the Prix Ganay behind him to return to the form he was in when he got the better of Horizon Dore to land the Prix d’Harcourt in April.

“We just have to forget about his last run in the Ganay where everything just went wrong,” Reynier said.

“He won well on his reappearance in the Prix d’Harcourt and he has some pretty solid form beating Horizon Dore, who just got beaten in the Prix d’Ispahan.”