ANABAA, the brilliant winner of Newmarket's July Cup, left the Deauville crowd equally in awe when the colt, owned, trained and ridden by the Head family demolished his rivals in the Prix Maurice De Gheest yesterday afternoon.
Freddie Head, hardly had to move his hands on the 1 to 2 favourite as his fellow jockeys were rowing away in the closing stages of the six and a half furlong Group One prize.
Breezing into the lead a furlong out the Criquette Head-trained Anabaa beat Miesque's Son by one and a half lengths, with Danehill Dancer (Ray Cochrane) a head away in third, finishing best of the five-strong British challenge for the near £66,000 first prize.
Alec Head, who had been given Anabaa by Maktoum at Maktoum in the colt's early days, said: "He's fantastic. You can put him anywhere in a race, though he does idle a bit when he gets to the front."
Future plans remain open to question though Alec Head said that the six furlong Haydock Park Sprint Cup on September 7th was a possibility.
Michael Tabor was thrilled with Danehill Dancer. He said: "That is as good as he gets. He appreciated the rain here, as he likes some juice in the ground."
However, David Loder was less happy with fifth-placed Blue Duster, ridden by Pat Eddery for the first time and defending an unbeaten record. "That was the first real test of her life and she didn't meet it," said her visibly disappointed trainer.
Other placings of the British challenge for the big Deauville prize was Iktamal (4th), Young Ern (7th) and Easy Dollar eight of the nine starters.
Lavirco, the German Derby winner, suffered a shock defeat at Hoppegarten yesterday when beaten by near 20 to 1 shot Bad Bert rich Again in the Group Two Europachampionat.
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