Chez Pierre, from the first crop of Mehmas, made it from five from five in seriously impressive style on Saturday, bounding clear for a wide-margin success in the Henry Clark Stakes at Laurel Park.
Breaking neatly from the outside, he sat midfield before accelerating on the turn. Although wide coming into the stretch, his victory was never in doubt and at the line, had five-and-a-half lengths to spare over the second.
Bought for €100,000 as a two-year-old by Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stables, Chez Pierre won his first three races in France for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. He was then shipped to the US to join Arnaud Delacour, for whom he made a recent impressive debut over a mile.
"The plan was to start him in Europe and see what he could do," said Delacour. "He did very well over there but we thought more opportunity here. We had a little issue which was a setback, so we had to no matter what give him time off.
"It was the first time going two turns on the turf the last time, so I think he was a little surprised. He just wanted to go [because] previously he had only run six furlongs. I think he's a smart horse. He learned and obviously today he relaxed pretty well. He's been breezing very well so we were high on him. He's only confirming what we thought."
Chez Pierre becomes the 17th stakes winner for Mehmas, whose American stars also include Going Global and Quattroelle, and was bred by SCEA des Prairies & Ecurie de Castillon out of Hortensia, by Orpen.
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