Soccer

French raider Malavath ready for 1000 Guineas at Newmarket

Frenchman Francis-Henri Graffard will swerve his domestic 1000 Guineas with Malavath to compete in the Newmarket version. His high-class filly Malavath is one to watch.

High-class French-trained filly Malavath will go to the Qipco 1000 Guineas rather than the cross channel equivalent.
The three-year-old progressed to take the Group 3 Prix Impudence at Deauville for Francis-Henri Graffard.
She previously showed what she was about with a strong second in the the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf at Del Mar, where she finished just half a length behind Christophe Clement's Pizza Bianca.
David Redvers of Tweenhills stud, co-owns the filly under the Everest Racing moniker.
He said: "She is on course for the 1000 Guineas, although it is a nervous week running up to it.
"She won the Prix Imprudence, which is the French Guineas trial, and according to her trainer she has come on significantly for that run, is in the peak of health and we just hope she can spend this last week incident-free and arrive at Newmarket in the form she is currently in at home."
Redvers isnt fazed about a potential lack of give in the ground with decent weather forecast for East Anglia.
"She won the Prix Impudence on heavy ground, there is no getting away from that, but she also ran in the Breeders' Cup on fast ground," he added.
"We always felt she would be inconvenienced by heavy ground and we were very worried about running her before that in the Criterium de Maison-Laffitte in very soft ground (which she won).
"One of the things that makes her particularly interesting is she seems to have an extraordinary ability to handle any conditions and a temperament that most trainers would die for."
However, Redvers does accept that there are question marks of Malavath's stamina.
"The Breeders' Cup was firm ground, although it is a very different thing running on the Rowley Mile to running round a bend at Del Mar," he admitted.
"There are pedigree question marks surrounding the sire rather than anything else. But she is one of the few with a genuinely steep climb in her form figures and she seems to have improved again.
"Francis is extremely positive about her chance and never questioned running at Newmarket.
"I thought the obvious bet would be to go to the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches but he has always been adamant that this is where she is coming - he thinks she is as good as there is, and wants to prove it."

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