Blue Rose Cen must bounce back from stuttering start to season

Blue Rose Cen will attempt to get back to winning ways when she returns to a mile in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville on Sunday.

It will be the first time the daughter of Churchill has run at the distance since winning last year’s French 1000 Guineas, excelling at 10 furlongs when also landing the Prix de Diane and Prix de l’Opera under the care of Christopher Head.

She is yet to find the scoresheet in two starts for new handler Maurizio Guarnieri, finishing fifth in the Prix d’Ispahan on her return before being well held in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot when ridden for the first time by Christophe Soumillon.

Soumillon is again in the saddle on the Normandy coast and although Blue Rose Cen was given a short break after Ascot, her handler is confident she is in good shape ahead of this Group One assignment.

“She will run on Sunday and I think she is all right but not 100 per cent, because after Ascot we gave her a little break,” said Guarnieri.

“She takes her time to come back to her best form and now she is okay, but two weeks ago she coughed, so I have not been too hard with her. But she is OK now.

“She has won before at one mile, but the difference this time is it is the first time she races up the straight (mile). Normally, she has a good change of speed, so we will hopefully stay covered and then change speed in the final furlong.”

Andre Fabre’s Mqse De Sevigne defends her title having made it two from two in the early stages of the 2024 season.

The five-year-old claimed a Listed prize on her reappearance before marching on to the Prix d’Ispahan – a race that has a strong look to it, with runner-up Horizon Dore running well behind Auguste Rodin in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Prix de la Foret scorer Kelina is another from the home contingent with top-level form to her name, while both Joseph O’Brien’s Falmouth Stakes third Rogue Millennium and Willie McCreery’s Ocean Jewel make the trip from Ireland.