Malavath made the perfect start to her three-year-old campaign on Thursday when the smooth winner of the Group 3 Prix Imprudence at Deauville.
The Mehmas filly was excellent last year when successful in the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte and second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. On Thursday, she proved in no uncertain terms that she had trained on, cruising into the front division under Christophe Soumillon before quickening clear to score easily from last year's Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie.
Paddy Power was certainly impressed and cut Malavath's odds from 14-1 into 7-1 for the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket.
"When you have the whole winter thinking about a comeback run on a given date, it's great that she turned up on the day and won in magnificent style," trainer Francis-Henri Graffard told the Racing Post.
"We'll have a chat with the owners and I'll talk to Christophe as well. I still have a slight doubt whether she will truly get a mile at Newmarket but maybe her attitude will allow her to do so. She's in both races and normally we love to challenge the best in Europe so we'll go away and talk about it."
Christophe Soumillon was also impressed. "I ducked inside from my wide draw but we weren't going a great pace and so I pulled her out sooner than I would have liked," the jockey said. "It's very holding ground and even though they went slow early, that rode like a proper 1,400 or even 1,600 meters. I loved her last year but she's really improved again over the winter.
"I was very confident after riding her last two pieces of work on Les Reservoirs."
Malavath was bred here at Tally-Ho Stud out of Fidaaha, a New Approach half-sister to Group 3 winners Steip Amach and Ceisteach. Further back, it is the family of Shergar.
She was sold by us as a yearling to Star Bloodstock, who resold her for £120,000 to David Redvers and Meridian International for £120,000 as an Arqana May breezer.
Malavath is one of 16 stakes winners from the first two crops of Mehmas. She belongs to his second crop, which also includes top 2yos Beauty Inspire, Lusail, Gubbass, Caturra and Hierarchy.
Mehmas stands for €50,000.
Comments