French Group 1 winner eyes The Golden Eagle
Sunday night’s impressive Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest hero Lazzat could be set for a trip across the globe as trainer Jerome Reynier earmarked the Golden Eagle at Rosehill as a potential target.
Trained by Jerome Reynier in Marseille, the three-year-old gelding has gone from strength to strength this season, winning three times in the space of a couple of months at Cagnes-sur-Mer at the beginning of the year, before back-to-back Group 3 victories over seven furlongs at Deauville and Longchamp in the summer.
Lazzat was sent off a $4.30 chance to stretch his unbeaten record to six on his first outing at Group 1 level in the 1300m event and his backers never really had a moment of doubt.
Regular rider Antonio Orani tracked the pace-setting Matilda Picotte before showing his rivals a clean pair of heels with a sparkling turn of foot approaching the 200m marker and shooting clear for a three-length win.
Lazzat is now as short as $9 in some markets on the November 2 Golden Eagle and Reynier confirmed it could be a plausible target.
“Obviously the prize-money for the Golden Eagle is unbelievable and that would be a great challenge and we would love to go to Australia with a runner,” Reynier said.
“And he wouldn’t be just any kind of runner. Maybe we will be tempted.
“The logistics are quite hard to put in place with two weeks quarantine in Newmarket and two weeks quarantine over there, but if he feels well and he will travel OK.
“He’s very easy to handle and to deal with. He doesn’t need much work, he’s just a good horse and a pure champion, I think.”
The Prix Maurice de Gheest is one of the top sprint races in France, in which Artorius ran midfield two years ago, while Moonlight Cloud – the mare who pushed Black Caviar at Royal Ascot in 2012 – is a three-time winner.
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