Flop Shot impressive in Prix de Guiche

Andre Fabre appears to have a strong hand for the French classics this year, and although his runner Syrtis was sent off favourite for the Group 3 Prix de Guiche at Chantilly it was the team's second string Flop Shot who took the prize, eased down to beat his stablemate by three lengths in the nine furlong test on soft ground.

The Wertheimer brothers' homebred was placed on both his starts as a juvenile and won a maiden on the Polytrack at Chantilly in mid-March. His pattern success, therefore, represented a huge step forward for the son of Dalham Hall Stud stallion New Approach (by Galileo) and there is every reason to hope that he can continue to progress, potentially reaching Group 1 level.

#Plat #R1Chantilly
Nouvelle victoire du trio Wertheimer / Fabre / @MaxSamGuyon !
Flop Shot (New Approach) s'adjuge le Prix de Guiche devant l'autre pensionnaire d'André Fabre, le favori Syrtis. Makmour a complètement cédé dans la ligne droite.
□Insandi pic.twitter.com/mgqpVPnSd1

— Equidia (@equidia) May 6, 2019

Flop Shot is the first foal of Dancequest (by Dansili), a lightly-raced winner who earned her blacktype when finishing third in a ten-and-a-half-furlong listed contest at Longchamp and has two half-sisters of considerable note.

Balladeuse (by Singspiel) won the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu and has given us the Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner and Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) runner-up Left Hand (by Dubawi), whereas Prix de Diane third Plumania (by Anabaa) landed the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and is responsible for this month's Group 2 Prix du Muguet scorer Plumatic (by Dubawi).

Featherquest (by Rainbow Quest) is a winning half-sister to Group 1 scorer and successful sire Groom Dancer (by Blushing Groom), which could become more significant should Flop Shot go on to earn a berth at stud.

Juvenile champion and classic hero New Approach is well-established as being a leading stallion and the sire of last year's Derby winner Masar also has the prior classic stars Talent, May's Dream, and Dawn Approach to his name among a total of seven Group 1 winners from 44 blacktype scorers.