Wednesday 17th June 2009
Cima connections eye Champagne Lanson July Festival
Cima De Triomphe is among 41 high-class horses entered for the Group Two Princess Of Wales’s Stakes.
The £100,000 contest is the highlight of a fantastic seven-race card on Thursday, July 9, day two of the three-day Champagne Lanson July Festival at Newmarket.
Entries for the prestigious mile and a half race are revealed at noon today.
The four-year-old Cima De Triomphe, victorious in the Group One Derby Italiano last season, joined the stable of Newmarket trainer Luca Cumani ahead of the current campaign.
The colt thrilled racegoers on his British debut in the Group Three Brigadier Gerard Stakes over 10 furlongs at Sandown on May 28, when defeating St Leger and Breeders’ Cup Turf hero Conduit by a nose.
Patrick Barbe, racing manager to owner Teruya Yoshida, revealed today: “Cima De Triomphe is very well at present. The Princess Of Wales’s Stakes is a possibility but it is a little bit early to make any decision.
“He is entered for a number of races in the coming weeks, so time will tell where we go with him. It depends on the horse’s wellbeing and the going. It will be Luca’s choice in the end.
“We were more than delighted with his Sandown win, all the more because we all thought he was second, including the jockey. The angle of the grandstand to the track at Sandown made it look like Conduit had the edge. We walked back to the paddock saying how it was bad luck to be so narrowly beaten and then the announcer said that we had won.
“It was a good performance by Cima De Triomphe but Conduit had a 7lb penalty and it was also his first start of the season. Both horses are very good - there was a nose with a 7lb difference but we are hoping to recoup a bit of that difference in time.”
Cima De Triomphe could bid to emulate Carroll House. In 1989, the Michael Jarvis-trained colt captured the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes en route to a famous victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on the first Sunday in October.
