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William Haggas in flying form as he sends Light Refrain and Johan to Deauville

'The Derby is still the same race it was': William Haggas reflects on the status of the Epsom Classic
William Haggas: sends two runners to Deauville on SundayCredit: Edward Whitaker

William Haggas and Tom Marquand are double-handed as Deauville's summer festival draws to a close on Sunday, but the top Newmarket trainer does not seem overly optimistic of pocketing a few euros.

The trainer sends out the Queen's Light Refrain, who has won Listed and Group 3 races this season, in the Group 3 Barriere Prix de Meautry (), which features plenty of familiar British-trained runners, such as Garrus, Keep Busy, Zoetic and Vadream.

Marquand will ride Light Refrain's stablemate Johan, who runs in the colours of Jon and Julia Aisbitt in the Barriere Prix Quincey ().


Deauville cards


He has some solid handicap form this season and Haggas said: "They travelled over on Friday night and I hope they've had a good journey. They're in good form but in both races there are quite a lot of runners unusually for a French race – we'll see how they get on."

Deauville's feature is the Group 2 Lucien Barriere Grand Prix de Deauville (), in which the Owen Burrows-trained Hukum would have run but for a dirty scope this week.

Expect Sublimis, who beat the high-class In Swoop in a Listed race at Longchamp in the spring, to be on the scene for Andre Fabre and Godolphin, whose Lisa-Jane Graffard said: "He's been remarkably consistent and this looks like a good opportunity to add to his profile. He's in good form and we expect him to run another decent race."

Godolphin also run the consistent four-year-old filly Alpen Rose, who has finished outside of the first three just three times in her 12-race career, against Johan in the Prix Quincey.

Graffard added: "Alpen Rose has barely put a foot wrong this season and we are expecting her to run well again. We really hope to add a Group-race victory to her CV before the end of the year and would be delighted if she could do it here."


More to read:

Free Wind storms home to give Frankie Dettori dazzling Deauville double

'He's certainly going the right way' - Arc bid still possible for Hukum

'He's a striking horse' - In Swoop to stand on Coolmore's National Hunt roster

Sacred success shows why status quo is working perfectly for Team Haggas


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Lambourn correspondent

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