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CHANTILLY (France), June 1: Dalakhani, ridden by Christophe Soumillon, made his rivals look second rate in the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) on Sunday.
Stretching his record to six wins in as many starts, the hot favourite, having settled in fourth, swept into the lead over 200 metres out.
Super Celebre, for one fleeting moment, threatened to make a race of it under jockey Dominique Boeuf until Dalakhani found an extra gear to race clear and win by two lengths.
Third place in the seven-strong field went to Coroner, the mount of Stephane Pasquier.
The winner, the 11-4 on favourite in London betting, is trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre for the Aga Khan who has high hopes of winning the Epsom Derby next Saturday with 4-1 third favourite Alamshar.
De Royer-Dupre said: “Dalakhani is an exceptional colt and his unbeaten record speaks for itself.”
Earlier on Sunday, the Group one Prix Jean Prat fell to Vespone, ridden by Christophe Lemaire for trainer Nicolas Clement.
The improving Vespone made all the running in the 1.8 km test to win by three lengths from Italian raider Prince Kirk, the mount of Frankie Dettori.
Lemaire, riding his first Group One winner, said: “It was an impressive performance.”
Neo Universe wins
TOKYO: Italian Mirco Demuro became the first non-Japanese jockey to win the Japan Derby with a close-run victory aboard favourite Neo Universe on Sunday.
Demuro, who also rode the three-year-old colt to victory at the Satsuki-Sho last month, made it back-to-back Grade One triumphs in a rain-soaked 70th Japan Derby, winning by half a length from Zenno Rob Roy at Tokyo Racecourse.
Neo Universe covered the 2,400 metres in two minutes, 28.5 seconds in front of a crowd of 110,000 for his fourth overall Grade One title and a first Japan Derby victory for trainer Tsutomu Setoguchi.
However, the favourite did not have things all his own way, trailing Ace in the Race coming off the final bend.
But Neo Universe gradually pulled away in the home stretch to take the first prize of $1.2 million. That’s The Plenty placed third.—Reuters
