Second G1 Winner for Churchill

Churchill is currently in Australia for his fifth season and featured in France on Sunday with a new Group when exciting filly Blue Rose Cen (2f Churchill x Queen Blossom, by Jeremy) took out the Group I Prix Marcel Boussac Criterium des Pouliches (1600m) at Longchamp.

Prepared by Christopher Head, Blue Rose Cen came into the race off a last start Group win and scored a commanding five length win over Saxon Warrior filly Gan Teorainn taking her overall record to four wins and a second to six starts.

“I knew Blue Rose Cen would be okay on the testing ground because it was soft last time she ran and I think she can go further than a mile - a mile-two would be easy for her," said Christoper Head, who was celebrating his first Group I win as a trainer.

“It's surprising how well she won because it was a good race. She was jumping from a Group 3 to a Group 1 against all the Europeans, it wasn't like she was just running against French horses.”

A homebred for Yeguada Centurion SLU, Blue Rose Cen is the first foal from dual Group III winner Queen Blossom and becomes the second Group I winner for Churchill joining his star three year-old colt Vadeni (3c Churchill x Vaderana, by Monsun), who contested the Group I Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m).

The Aga Khan homebred colt ran the race of his life to finish second beaten half a length by glamour mare Alpinista with last year’s winner Torquator Tasso in third place.

Churchill stands at a fee of $22,000 this spring and has two very promising fillies running for him here in stakes-placed Jenny Jerome and Madame Odette, a dominant winner of the $100,000 Toowoomba Guineas.