Menuisier has Group One options for Wonderful Tonight

Molly Hunter
September 15, 2020 3:15 pm

Filly ran well in defeat behind Tarnawa in Vermeille.

Ground conditions will dictate the next step of David Menuisier’s Prix Minerve winner Wonderful Tonight.

The filly stepped up in class markedly at the weekend to run in the Prix Vermeille at ParisLongchamp and acquitted herself well, in what looked a strong renewal.

She finished fifth of 10, beaten four lengths by Dermot Weld’s impressive winner Tarnawa on ground quicker than ideal.

“I thought she ran a very, very solid race,” Menuisier said.

“Considering the ground was probably far from ideal for her, I thought she ran an absolute stormer.

“She was only beaten a length and a half from the second place, and she probably ran to the same sort of mark, or maybe even better, than when she won in Deauville on ideal ground. So that kind of bodes well for the future.”

Menuisier is now considering two separate paths as he seeks her favoured conditions, with both the Prix de Royallieu back at ParisLongchamp and the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot pencilled in.

“I will go wherever the ground is the softest,” he said.

“It will either be the Royallieu on the Saturday of Arc weekend, over a mile and six furlongs, or the fillies and mares at Ascot on Champions Day over a mile and four.

“Let’s face it, we’ve only just run so we need to make our minds up in a few weeks.

“If the ground looked pretty soft over Arc weekend then I think we’ll just go there, rather than take a chance, not go there and then we end up on good ground at Ascot.

“If the ground is heavy or very soft for the Arc weekend then we’ll probably run there and then take it from there. If it’s not quite soft enough, we might bypass it and go to Ascot instead. I’m open minded really, I feel it’s a good problem to have!”