Diamond Necklace after 4th French G1
Coolmore’s star filly is head and shoulders above the rest in Prix Jean et Louis Romanet
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Diamond Necklace has racked up four Group 1 wins since saluting in the Prix Marcel Boussac (1,600m) at Longchamp on Oct 5, 2025.
PHOTO: RACING AND SPORTS
DEAUVILLE – The home team may find it difficult to maintain their dominance in the €400,000 (S$590,000) Group 1 Prix Jean et Louis Romanet (2,000m) this year with trainer Aidan O’Brien sending over wonder filly Diamond Necklace for one last trip to France prior to a possible bid for the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2,400m) in October.
Unbeaten in six starts, the St Mark’s Basilica filly now has four Group 1 victories to her name, three of them on French soil.
Since her impressive win in the Prix Marcel Boussac (1,600m) last October, she has continued her Group 1 dominance this season by lifting the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (1,600m), Prix de Diane (2,100m), and more recently the Nassau Stakes (2,000m) at Goodwood, on her first start in the UK.
Although the Coolmore filly had to battle hard to get the better of Pink Panthera in the Diane, she showed a devastating turn of foot three weeks ago on July 30 when taking on older fillies and mares for the first time.
Bred in France by Ecurie des Monceaux and Skymarc Farm but trained in Ireland at Ballydoyle, the three-year-old appears to be in a league of her own among Europe’s fillies and mares, and victory on Sunday could see her become the new Arc favourite.
To maintain her unblemished record, she will have to break the French stronghold in this feature race.
Created in 2004 and subsequently elevated to Group 1 status, the Prix Jean et Louis Romanet, which is named after well-known French racing administrators, has become an established high point of the Deauville summer meeting.
Restricted to fillies and mares aged three and up, the race annually draws a high-quality field, with French-trained runners generally holding their own, as illustrated by the results of the last five editions in which the home team has won four times.
To thwart the foreigners from bucking the trend, the domestic squad will count on Pink Panthera, the only horse to have truly tested O’Brien’s filly.
The four-time winner by Chachnak comes to Deauville on the back of two narrow defeats, most recently in the Group 2 Prix de Malleret (2,400m) at ParisLongchamp, in which she finished a neck-second to the very smart Behrayna, who has unfortunately since been retired.
A light-framed filly with a sharp turn of foot, Patrice Cottier’s three-year-old will attempt to avenge her short-head Prix de Diane defeat.
“We thought she had half a chance in the Diane. I would have been happy with a third, and it was a pleasant surprise to see her run a close second,” said Cottier.
“We then ran her over 2,400m (Malleret). Her jockey said it might be her ceiling, so we’re bringing her back to 2,000m in the Jean et Louis Romanet.
“She had an easy time after her last race, and she has looked very good since.”
Among the other domestic fillies and mares, the Wertheimer’s Aventure also merits a mention. Fourth in the recent Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (2,400m), she is consistently performant when racing exclusively against her own sex.
Runner-up in the 2024 Arc, the Christophe Ferland-trained daughter of Sea Of Stars remains a force at the age of five and should be closely watched.
Third in the 2025 Prix de Diane, the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Cankoura is still chasing that elusive first Group 1 success for connections used to such accolades, the Aga Khan Studs.
Just beaten a head at the highest level at Saratoga in early June, the grey filly by Persian King subsequently won a Chantilly Listed with ease two weeks later, providing an ideal preparation for Sunday’s objective.
The consistently-performant Red Letter gave a good account of herself when third in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes (2,000m) at The Curragh in late June.
The Frankel filly has yet to secure a Group 1 among her three wins, but will be fitted with cheekpieces for the first time this Sunday.
Representing an operation that produced Item to win its own long-time-sponsored Group 1 Juddmonte International (2,100m) at York on Aug 19, not to mention Kalpana in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks (2,400m) the next day, her prospects are not negligible. PMU