Diamond Necklace made it an unblemished 5-5 at Chantilly on Sunday to give Aidan O’Brien a second Prix de Diane. The daughter of St Mark’s Basilica was only a short-neck winner of the coveted contest, but Ryan Moore exuded confidence throughout.
Moore, speaking to the Racing Post, said: “I’m still learning about her, it’s only the second time I’ve ridden her. But she’s such an uncomplicated filly and she only does what she needs to do. So I’d like to think there’d be more to come when needed.
“She began well and she was always where I needed her to be. There was a slight issue when Esna started coming back on me coming round the bend and I had to start moving a little bit sooner than I had planned. The second horse might have headed her at one point. But when I called on her a second time she stuck her head down and straight away took it back again.
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on the agenda for Diamond Necklace
Diamond Necklace emulated star fillies in Zarkava and Divine Proportions in landing the Marcel Boussac, Pouliches and the Diane treble. The former stepped up to twelve furlongs that season in the Arc, and both Moore and O’Brien have hinted at the filly going up in trip.
“When we work her at home she’s always like that, whatever the trip,” said O’Brien. She goes clear by a length or two and then she waits. We thought she could get a mile and a half riding her patiently. It might be more that she’s waiting rather than she’s getting to the end and she wasn’t blowing very hard afterwards.
“Her stride was long and usually when they’re getting to the end of their trip, their stride gets shorter. She will probably end up in an Arc trial or a mile and a quarter fillies’ race, something like that. We’ll take our time with her because she’s very easy to train. She gets fit very naturally so we won’t rush her.”
Inis Mor ran an excellent race in third for David Menuisier and Oisin Murphy, albeit racing keenly in front. The Galiway daughter was second in a valuable Conditions race at Longchamp last season. She’s returned in excellent form, landing the Listed Height of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood.
Menuisier said: “Honestly I’m pretty emotional because it was a fantastic performance. And we could have hardly hoped for better before the race. I’m over the moon and she did it the hard way. We didn’t ride to be placed, we tried to win the race.