Diego Velazquez just helds off Notable Speech to win the Gr 1 The Aga Khan Studs Prix Jacques le Marois over a straight mile at Deauville (via youtube)
Cape Breeders
Top-class four-year-old Diego Velazquez, a three-parts brother to Maine Chance Farms’ exciting new stallion Point Lonsdale, picked up the biggest win of his career when he won the G1 The Aga Khan Studs Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Sunday.
The colt had been bought by Sam Sangster Bloodstock ahead of the race, with the expectation that he would stand at the National Stud following this season.
It was a first Group 1 win for Aidan O’Brien’s four-year-old and the trainer’s first victory in the Marois since Excelebration in 2012.
Diego Velazquez, ridden by Christophe Soumillon, stayed wide out of the stalls before settling behind The Lion In Winter and Dancing Gemini.
The Lion In Winter cut out the early running but faded badly in the final furlong, providing Charlie Appleby’s Notable Speech with a late gap under William Buick. However, the line came too soon, with the winner holding on by a head.
O’Brien said: “He’s always looked a smart horse. He had good two- and three-year-old form; he’s determined. His last run was very good, and it’s all come right in the last week or so.”
A son of Frankel, Diego Velazquez has won six of 11 starts, with his victories including five group victories.
Diego Velazquez is the second G1 winner produced by the Acclamation mare Sweepstake. Winner of both the Listed National Stakes and Listed Bedanken Stakes, Sweepstake is also the dam of champion, and G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winning sire, Broome, as well as the well performed Point Lonsdale.
Point Lonsdale, whose sire Australia, like Frankel, was sired by Galileo, was a group winner at two, four and five, and earned £724,572 in prize money.
By the same sire as this season’s dual Derby winner Lambourn, Point Lonsdale stands his first season at Maine Chance Farms in 2025.
