French Oaks under Italy-US raid
With horse racing becoming increasingly a big global village, Zia Agnese adds yet another international flavour to the €1,000,000 (S$1.47 million) Group 1 Prix de Diane (2,100m) at Chantilly this Sunday on June 15.
The name of this daughter of Irish stallion Romanised is distinctively Italian, but she also has strong links from the other side of the Atlantic.
Meaning "Auntie Agnes" in Italian, Zia Agnese pays tribute to one of the co-owners' aunt.
Gina d'Amato is a Florida world-renowned oncologist who owns and breeds horses in both the US and France. She was passed down the racing bug from her father John, a long-time horse owner.
John's sister is the aunt affectionately named "Zia Agnese" in the family.
D'Amato shares the three-year-old filly with Italian-born Richard Marini, who is now a landscape entrepreneur based in Florida.
Unsurprisingly, the duo have entrusted their pride and joy in the hands of an Italian trainer, Gianluca Bietolini, who moved from Rome to Maisons-Laffitte in Paris in 2013.
The only true French connection comes through the reins - homegrown jockey Ronan Thomas.
Bietolini may not have Group 1 silverware bursting from his trophy cabinet, but his best horse Grand Glory has put his name up in lights, including winning the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet (2,000m) in 2021.
The daughter of Olympic Glory also ran third to Channel in the 2019 Prix de Diane, an effort the former amateur jockey is hoping to better with Zia Agnese.
"She had already done a solid piece of work at the Maisons-Laffitte racecourse on May 24," said Bietolini to France Galop after Zia Agnese's final workout on June 4.
"This time, she went over 1,800 metres with a pacemaker and another horse accompanying her in the home straight.
"I'm very pleased with what I saw and, more importantly, her jockey Ronan Thomas was genuinely happy with her as well.
"Now all we have to do is keep her in the same condition until the big day and hope for a bit of luck in the race."
Referred to as the French Oaks, the 182-year-old Prix de Diane is the most prestigious French race for three-year-old fillies.
Thomas became instrumental to the filly turning the corner when he got the call-up deep into her first prep.
It was only after her first placed run in four starts when second in a Maiden (1,900m) at Chantilly on Oct 1, 2024 that Thomas was booked by Bietolini.
The pair clicked immediately, with Zia Agnese shedding her maiden tag in a 1,900m race at Deauville on Nov 3, followed weeks later by another one in a Stakes race over the same trip at Chantilly on Dec 20.
Upon resumption after a three-month layoff, Zia Agnese ran last in a small field of five in the Tourbillon Stakes (2,100m) at Saint-Cloud, but less than three lengths off the winner, the unbeaten Marchon.
She had excuses as the ground was soft and she also cast a shoe.
But the pair bounced straight back to the winner's enclosure at their next assignment, which came in one of the key prep races for the Prix de Diane, the Group 3 Prix Cleopatre (2,100m) at Saint-Cloud on April 18.
No doubt, the Prix de Diane will be a sterner test, but Thomas, 47, who won last year's Prix du Jockey Club with the Carlos and Yann Lerner-trained Look De Vega, is an experienced pair of hands.
One of the rivals to draw plenty of intrigue will be the Charlie Fellowes-trained Shes Perfect, controversially demoted from first place in the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (1,600m) or the French Guineas at ParisLongchamp on May 11.
The win was awarded to the favourite Zarigana in the stewards' room, on the grounds of interference when Shes Perfect indirectly bumped her off when she could not stay on a straight line inside the concluding stages.
manyan@sph.com.sg
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