Stacelita improved her record to eight wins from 11 starts with a hard-fought head victory over Antara in the Darley Prix Jean Romanet (Fr-I) at Deauville Aug. 22.
The Jean Romanet was the fourth group I victory for Stacelita, who entered the race off of a strong second-place finish to Midday in the Blue Square Nassau Stakes (Eng-I) on July 31.
Christophe Soumillon settled Stacelita into second after the start, just off the slow early pace set by Board Meeting. Antara tracked them closely from third, with Celimene racing in fourth.
The order remained unchanged through the early stages with Board Meeting establishing a sedate pace on the front end. With just under two furlongs left, Soumillon moved Stacelita to the outside, where she had a clear run to the wire.
Under a strong drive by Soumillon, Stacelita took command with a furlong to go and had just enough left to hold off the late charge of Antara, who flew home late under Frankie Dettori to just miss.
Board Meeting stayed on well to finish third, just a length behind Antara. Final time for the 10 furlongs was 2:09.30 on the good turf course.
Trainer Jean-Claude Rouget said of Stacelita after the race: “The whole objective this season was to win a group I with her as a 4-year-old.”
“It was a bit of a risk running her three weeks after Goodwood,” Rouget continued. “You’ll see her again in another group race, probably the E.P. Taylor Stakes (Can-IT) in Canada, then Hong Kong.”
Stacelita was bred in France by Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois, and is owned by Martin Schwartz. She is by Monsun and is out of the stakes-winning Dashing Blade mare Soignee. Stacelita hails from the female family of champions Steinlein, Zagreb, Schonbrunn, and Sagace.