Blue Rose Cen joins exclusive company with French Oaks success

Blue Rose Cen emulated some great names in French racing history by landing Sunday’s French Oaks at Chantilly.

The Christopher Head-trained star proved much too good for Aidan O’Brien’s hope Never Ending Story who finished a four-length runner up in the €1 million Prix de Diane.

That margin is as close as the Irish filly has got to Blue Rose Cen in three races to date that have put the latter in very exclusive company.

Successful in last season’s Prix Marcel Boussac as a two-year-old, Blue Rose Cen hit the Classic mark in last month’s ‘Pouliches’ or French 1,000 Guineas at Longchamp.

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Adding the ‘Diane’ to her CV produced a Group One hat-trick previously only accomplished by Zarkava (2008), Divine Proportions (2005) and the legendary Allez France half a century ago.

It was done in style too as jockey Aurelien Lemaitre was celebrating with 50 metres to go, while Never Ending Story just held off Tasmania for second.

The 16-5 favourite’s chance was helped by a perfect passage that saw Blue Rose Cen tail her stable companion Wise Girl to the straight.

Having straightened up, a gap opened up inside Wise Girl that Blue Rose Cen quickly availed of and the race was all but over.

If it at least appeared to be a case of team tactics, there also looked to be no argument about the winner’s overall superiority.

She is the first double Classic winner of 2023 in Europe, although the Epsom hero Auguste Rodin could emulate that in the upcoming Irish Derby.

There might also be a clash between the pair on Blue Rose Cen’s home ground in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe come October, although Head insisted it is “a bit early to talk about this”.

The 36-year-old, son of the former champion jockey Freddy Head and part of France’s most renowned racing dynasty, said it was a magical occasion and that Blue Rose Cen has “changed my life”.

Bookmakers quickly installed the daughter of Coolmore stallion Churchill as a 10-1 shot for the Arc. Both Zarkava and Allez France went on to the land Europe’s greatest all-aged prize.

O’Brien’s focus now switches to Tuesday’s start of Royal Ascot where he will have three starters on the opening day of a meeting he has been leading trainer at 11 times to date.

The trio is topped by the Irish Guineas winner Paddington, who will tackle the Newmarket Classic hero Chaldean in the St James’s Palace Stakes. A total of nine will line up in the mile contest.

River Tiber is favourite to maintain his unbeaten record in the Coventry Stakes for two-year-olds which has attracted a bumper field of 22. Frankie Dettori will partner the Marble Hill winner Givemethebeatboys for Jessica Harrington.

Joseph O’Brien’s Mooneista is the sole Irish starter in Tuesday’s Group One sprint, the King’s Stand Stakes, which has attracted an international field, including a pair of Australian runners and Twilight Gleaming for American trainer Wesley Ward.