For the second Sunday in a row Aidan O’Brien secured Classic glory with a filly as Diamond Necklace maintained her unbeaten record with success in the French 1,000 Guineas.
Ryan Moore guided the 4-5 favourite up the inside in the Emirates Poule D’Essai de Pouliches at a rain-soaked Longchamp to follow up last weekend’s English 1,000 Guineas victory for True Love.
True Love was the stable second-choice at Newmarket but back over the course and distance of her win in October’s Prix Marcel Boussac there was an authority to Diamond Necklace’s defeat of The Last Dance that suggested she may prove best of a potentially vintage three-year-old filly crop at Ballydoyle.
“She’s beautiful. She’s all her dad [sire St Mark’s Basilica] and he improved a lot from two to three and she looks like doing exactly the same. We had it in our heads that she would be a Prix de Diane filly or the Oaks, it will depend on what the lads want to do,” O’Brien said.
READ MORE
Just as at Newmarket it was a filly that lived up to their Classic billing. Gstaad found Bow Echo too good in the English 2,000 Guineas and Sunday’s French version, the Poule D’Essai de Poulains, saw O’Brien’s Puerto Rico manage only fourth behind the French star Rayif.
“A little bit rusty,” was O’Brien’s verdict. He added that it was “a very respectable run” for Puerto Rico’s first start of the season.
But making her seasonal debut proved no obstacle to Diamond Necklace hitting the Classic bullseye, and with Pierre Bonnard chinned by James J Braddock in the final stride of Sunday’s Leopardstown Derby Trial it was a day that smacked of superior ‘girl power’.
That might not sit right with Coolmore’s stallion-making business model, although last week’s Chester Trials tightened O’Brien’s apparent grip on the Derby picture. By any measure, though, O’Brien’s latest Classic winner looks outstanding.
Christophe Soumillon was “besotted” after riding her in the Boussac and in his own less exuberant way, Moore seemed equally pleased with Diamond Necklace after riding her for the first time on a racecourse.
“She quickened up very well, got to the front very early and was just doing enough then. Obviously, a high-class filly with a good turn of foot that St Mark’s Basilica had himself and that’s probably what separates them,” the Englishman said.
Rayif also successfully followed an inside route to success in the colts’ Classic, continuing the remarkable run of big race success enjoyed by his trainer Francis Henri Graffard.
A French record 14 Group/Grade One victories in 2025 was led by the world’s top-rated racehorse Calandagan. That gelding struck again at the top level in Dubai in March and Rayif is the latest star bred by the late Aga Khan who is now, crucially, a mile Classic winner.
“I didn’t realise it had been so long since an Aga Khan Studs horse won this race [1999 with Sendawar], but this is a very important victory. In the racing industry, producing stallions and helping them establish themselves at stud is essential. With this success, he has clearly earned his place as a future stallion,” said Graffard.
The 49-year-old has established himself as France’s top trainer and a legitimate rival to industry behemoth organisations like Ballydoyle.
“We’ll see how he comes out of the race, but the idea is to continue along this path. The St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot will be his next target,” he added.
It’s O’Brien’s son Joseph who has a Derby contender of his own after James J Braddock scored at Leopardstown. The winner is 25-1 for Epsom.
“We didn’t expect him to win but thought he’d run a good race and he would work towards the King Edward VII Stakes. He obviously came into it a bit more forward than we expected,” he said.
A busy domestic programme on Monday includes Harry Cobden making a first appearance in Killarney for the featured Grade Three Chase.
The former British champion jockey’s new role as JP McManus’s No 1 rider began in Ireland on Friday when beaten on a Willie Mullins runner at Wexford. Now Cobden’s getting to know another unfamiliar Irish track aboard Gentleman de Mee in the BoyleSports An Riocht Chase.
The former Grade One winner was previously ridden 18 times by Mark Walsh, including last year’s Topham victory at Aintree. The horse was fourth in the same race last time and boasts a 155 rating. That means Jesse Evans has a task on figures, but there was plenty to like about his comeback at Punchestown and he’s proven around the Killarney circuit.
Jack Kennedy is on Sa Fureur in the big race and Ireland’s champion jockey will be back for six rides in all having scored a double for Gordon Elliott in Tennessee on Saturday night after Famous Figure and Blue Waters both scored at the Percy Warner track near Nashville.
