Inspiral bounced back from her Sussex Stakes (G1) defeat to Paddington to defend the Aug. 13 Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) under Frankie Dettori at Deauville.
🌟 Back to her best! 🌟
INSPIRAL (Frankel) races clear under @FrankieDettori to land back-to-back renewals of the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois for John & @thadygosden 🏆
🔴⚪️🔵
— Cheveley Park Stud (@CPStudOfficial) August 13, 2023
The Cheveley Park filly was kept in the rear but was driven along and pounced on leader, and favorite, Big Rock in the closing stages. She won by a length and a quarter, recording a first success since victory here 12 months ago.
Cheveley Park director Richard Thompson said: “It was a brave, brave call. She ran in the Sussex 11 days ago and, although she didn’t have much of a race, to come back and win this again is absolutely fantastic. What a day.
“She’s a proper individual and she’s had some difficult days on the racecourse but she’s had great ones too. She’s so talented and when it goes for her, as it did here, she’s just in a different league.”
Inspiral had proved no match for Paddington when last seen in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, making a mid-race move to take him on but tiring quickly on testing ground.
Explaining the decision to run, Thompson added: “John called my mother (Patricia) who’s the ultimate boss and she made the call. It was a question of John and Frankie as a combination deciding that she really could go for this and we felt we’d back the trainer and the jockey. It’s come off and it’s brilliant.”
It is a fourth consecutive victory in the race for Dettori and the Gosden team, with Palace Pier and Inspiral providing two wins apiece.
The David Simcock-trained Light Infantry took third under Jamie Spencer with Triple Time finishing fifth on his first start since winning the Queen Anne Stakes (G1), ahead of Inspiral, at Royal Ascot.
With her victory in the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1), a Breeders’ Cup Challenge ‘Win and You’re In’ event, Inspiral earned an all-expenses paid berth to the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.
