Suesa on course for Commonwealth Cup date

French raider to run at Royal Ascot.

Unbeaten French sprinter Suesa will head to Royal Ascot in search of Group One glory.

The George Strawbridge-owned three-year-old has a perfect record of four runs and four victories, all at Chantilly.

After winning on her track debut in October last year, the filly took the Listed Prix Yacowlef before she was bought by American owner Strawbridge.

Strawbridge transferred the bay from the base of Carlos Laffon-Parias into the care of Francois Rohaut, and Suesa struck on her first run for her new handler with an easy triumph in the Group Three Prix Sigy, after which she enjoyed another comfortable victory at the same level when winning the Prix Texanita by three lengths.

Royal Ascot now beckons for the daughter of Night Of Thunder, with the Commonwealth Cup on June 18 set to be her first run away from Chantilly.

“She won them very easily,” said James Wigan, racing manager to Strawbridge, of the filly’s successes thus far.

“I don’t know what she beat, but she couldn’t have done it more easily.”

Suesa is currently a 9-2 chance for the Commonwealth Cup, a price that leaves her second-favourite behind only Wesley Ward’s Campanelle.

The presence of Ward’s American runner confirms the race is set to attract high-calibre six-furlong three-year-olds from across the world, and Suesa’s connections are expecting to learn more about her class when she is pitched against them.

“It’s difficult to know because she hasn’t taken them on, the best Irish or British sprinters,” Wigan said.

“But she’s shown herself to be better than what’s available in France.”

Indigo Girl had high-class form as a juvenile last year
Indigo Girl had high-class form as a juvenile last year (David Davies/PA)

Strawbridge also owns the John and Thady Gosden-trained Indigo Girl, who was last seen finishing second in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket in October.

That performance followed two victories, one on debut and one in the Group Two May Hill Stakes, but the daughter of Dubawi is yet to take to the track this season.

A tilt at Newmarket’s Pretty Polly Stakes was suggested as an alternative to the 1000 Guineas, but she did not run in either contest and may head to Chantilly for the Prix de Diane, the French equivalent to the Oaks, instead.

“Her original target was the Prix de Diane,” Wigan said.

“I think that’s probably still the target, unless he (John Gosden) has changed his mind.”

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