Having landed practically every Grade One worth winning over jumps, Henry de Bromhead goes in pursuit of a first Group One success on the flat in Longchamp on Saturday.
The Co Waterford trainer aims Term Of Endearment at the €300,000 Qatar Prix de Royallieu, off at 4pm Irish-time on day one of Arc weekend.
Success in the 14-furlong mares contest would seal a perfect rise to the top for the five-year-old who scored under Rachael Blackmore at Group Three level in York before landing the Group Two Lillie Langtry at Goodwood last time.
Rising French star Alexis Pouchin takes the reins this time. He won a Listed race at Longchamp for De Bromhead last month, just one of a series of notable flat victories for the trainer this summer that also include Magical Zoe’s Ebor at York.
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Term Of Endearment takes on 15 others in a race that also includes a trio from Ballydoyle and Joseph O’Brien’s Thunder Roll.
“It’s a race which came on the cards after what she has done this summer. She’s been really good, and along with Magical Zoe and a few others, it has been really good. We haven’t won a Group One yet so I guess it would be one of our biggest wins, but we’ve got to go and do it now,” said De Bromhead.
Saturday’s other Group One at Longchamp, the Prix Du Cadran, has Kyprios set to start at very short odds to continue his pristine 2024 campaign.
The world’s top-rated stayer won the marathon contest in remarkable style two years ago and has transformed expectations by coming back in style from a life-threatening illness last season.
The presence of the 2021 Cadran winner Trueshan, and France’s top stayer Double Major, means this will be no straightforward task although anything but a Kyprios victory will still be a big surprise.
Although the weekend international focus is on Paris, there is also top-flight Irish interest in the US on Saturday night where Dermot Weld’s Tarawa lines up for the Grade One $750,000 First Lady Stakes in Keeneland.
Chris Hayes rides the Aga Khan’s filly in the mile contest off at 9.44 Irish time. Hayes is also on Mountain Bear for Aidan O’Brien in the Coolmore Turf Mile at 10.48. The Irish hope’s opposition includes Harry Charlton’s Kikkuli, a half-brother to Frankel, to be ridden by Frankie Dettori.
A busy domestic weekend starts with the Curragh on Saturday although four graded weekend events split between Gowran and Tipperary underline how the jumping campaign’s tempo is starting to increase.
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