Team Valor’s IIRRIDESCENCE (Caesour) is being lined up for a French campaign
which will begin Sunday in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Fr-G1). Rested since
capturing the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (HK-G1) at Sha Tin, the Mike de Kock-trained
five-year-old will tackle the mile contest before a crack at the Prix de l’Opera
de Longchamp (Fr-G1) on October 1, where she could meet recent Yorkshire Oaks
(Eng-G1) heroine Alexandrova
(Sadler’s Wells).
“We do not expect to win the Moulin, as that would be unlikely for a
10-furlong mare, but we hope to get a good race into her that will help her
perform up to snuff in the l’Opera, which right now is starting to look like a
very hot contest, what with Alexandrova pointing for it,” Team Valor President
Barry Irwin said on www.teamvalor.com.
Jockey Weichong Marwing has retained the ride aboard the mare.
“Irridescence won the Queen Elizabeth Cup, but she could not have
accomplished the feat without a brilliant ride from Weichong,” Irwin continued.
“In deciding to have him ride Irridescence next week, we hope in part to have
him evaluate her current state of preparedness for the l’Opera. Mike de Kock,
who will receive the mare when she is finished racing in France, has been kind
enough to allow Weichong to ride the Irridescence for us in both of her upcoming
French races.”