Royal Ascot winner Perfect Power returned to winning ways as he displayed an electric turn of foot in the Darley Prix Morny at Deauville.
Richard Fahey’s juvenile had won the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot when beating Go Bears Go; who has gone on to frank the form.
Last time out Perfect Power ran at Goodwood in the Richmond Stakes and suffered all manner of traffic problems before flashing home to be beaten just over a length by Asymmetric.
With Christophe Soumillon doing the steering on this occasion, the Ardad colt yet again had a far from straightforward path. But he was good enough to extricate himself in time.
Fellow Ascot winner Quick Suzy was to the fore for much of the way; but the Queen Mary winner failed to see out the sixth furlong.
Asymmetric was given every chance by Martin Harley; but he had no answer when the eventual winner and Andre Fabre’s Trident came bursting through in the last 100 yards.
Perfect Power and Trident had a barging match over a furlong from home; but once they settled down to battle it out the Yorkshire raider was well on top at the line.
Fahey said from his North Yorkshire base: “That was nice to watch – well; he had that bit of trouble about two out, but when he got in the clear he was good.
“He’s got a proper turn of foot and his best part of the race was the end of it.
“It’s a great result for the whole team and especially Sheikh Rashid (Dalmook Al Maktoum).”
Betfair and Paddy Power halved Perfect Power in price to 4-1 for the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket next month.
Fahey added: “He’ll definitely go for the Middle Park next. It’s not often you make a plan for a horse, but the two races myself and Sheikh Rashid mentioned were the Morny and then the Middle Park and it’s very nice to have one in the bag already.
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A jubilant Soumillon said: “At the beginning things didn’t pan out perfectly because I found myself a bit far back. Going to the final 600 metres; I had the choice of either challenging wide or coming alone with a run in the middle of the track.
“Honestly speaking, I trusted my instinct – I didn’t try to think too much. On the inside, everyone seemed to be cantering and, when my horse reacted, he clicked into gear like a machine!”
Harley said of the Alan King-trained Asymmetric: “He ran well and travelled well during the race. My horse was a bit unsuited by the ground (too firm for his liking)
before making his effort. We had a shower of rain an hour before the race. I thought it would help, but it didn’t as the ground dried out.
“With 200 metres to go, I really thought we were going to win. When I asked him to pick up, he couldn’t change gear in this ground. However, it was a great performance. His next race will be the Group One Middle Park Stakes.”
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