French Oaks Winner for Churchill

A two time G1 winner going into the Group I Prix de Diane (2100m) (French Oaks) at Chantilly on Sunday high class filly Blue Rose Cen (3f Churchill x Queen Blossom, by Jeremy) showed her class to score a resounding four length victory.

A last start winner of the Group I Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (1600m), the Christopher Head trained filly relished the longer trip to win as she pleased under Aurelien Lemaitre taking her overall record to seven wins from nine starts.

“It's an incredible day. What she has done is remarkable. She travelled back in the pack but when it came to the finish she was the only one in the race,” said Christopher Head.

"This is the consecration of everything we have done with this filly. I hope my grandfather (Alec Head) is looking down on me. That's who I thought of when she crossed the line."

A 50-1 chance for the Arc before this race, Blue Rose Cen is now as short as 8-1 for the famed Longchamp feature event in October.

Only three fillies have won the same trio of G1 races as Blue Rose Cen and the others are champions - Allez France, Divine Proportions and Zarkava.

A homebred for Yeguada Centurion SLU, Blue Rose Cen is the first foal from dual Group III winner Queen Blossom and is one of two Group I winners for Churchill, who shuttles to Australia again this spring at a fee of $22,000.