Golden Lilac Blooms in French 1,000 Guineas

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Golden Lilac maintained her perfect record with a dominating performance in the €450,000 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, Fr-I) at Longchamp May 15.

Sixteen 3-year-old fillies went to the post in the Pouliches, with Golden Lilac sent off as the slight 6-4 favorite. Breaking sharply under jockey Olivier Peslier, the daughter of Galileo sat just behind 36-1 shot Glorious Sight as that filly set a sedate pace for Sebastien Maillot. Wild Wind ran in third, with the highly regarded Helleborine settled toward the rear of the field.

Peslier never could get Golden Lilac to settle, and the bay filly raced very keenly throughout much of the eight-furlong contest. With just under two furlongs to go, Peslier let his charge loose and Golden Lilac surged past Glorious Sight and began to open up on the field.

Golden Lilac crossed the wire an easy three-length winner over Glorious Sight, who stubbornly held on to second. Wild Wind was third, another half-length further back. Helleborine was never a factor and finished 13th.

Final time for the one-mile contest was 1:39.31 over a course rated good.

It was the third victory in the Pouliches for trainer Andre Fabre, who also notched wins with Houseproud (1990) and Musical Chimes (2003). The champion trainer conditions Golden Lilac for owner/breeder Gestut Ammerland, which also owned and/or bred such notables as Borgia and Hurricane Run.

Bred in Ireland, Golden Lilac is the second foal out of Grey Lilas, by Danehill. Grey Lilas captured the Prix du Moulin (Fr-I) as a 3-year-old, and placed in both the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French Two Thousand Guineas, Fr-I) and Prix de l’Opera (Fr-I) that same year.