Palace Pier emulated his sire Kingman with a brilliant win in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois (1600m) at Deauville.
Having sat off the early speed on the heavy ground, Frankie Dettori began to allow Persian Pier to find his stride with 500m to travel and he came through smoothly to reach the front 100m out, going on to defeat Alpine Star (Sea The Moon) by three-quarters of a length with Circus Maximus (Galileo) another five lengths further back in third. (pic: France Galop/Scoop DYGA)
The three-year-old Palace Pier has won all five of his starts for owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum.
“I think it was pretty clear watching the race that he wasn’t enjoying the ground.” trainer John Gosden said.
“I saw Frankie moving his hands and he was still fully 600 metres from home, but the horse showed a lot of guts and a lot of class. His main target will be the Queen Elizabeth II on Champions Day at Ascot.
“Everything will revolve around that, although most importantly everything depends on how the horse feels once we get him back home.”
Dettori described Palace Pier as a champion.
“He’s a true champion and that was a great performance,” Dettori said. “He handled the ground well, but he’d be better on good or faster and I would rate him very high among all the best milers I have ridden.
“Maybe the best is yet to come, as he could be a horse for next season.”