Victoire Française For Master Carpenter

Our first runner at Chantilly was a winner as Master Carpenter put up a career best performance to land the Group 3 Prix Daphnis. It was the yard's second French winner, having won the Group 1 Prix Du Cadran back in 2006 with Sergeant Cecil and our first Group success since Cecil landed the 2007 Yorkshire Cup and it is a massive boost for the yard. Given a brilliant ride by Christophe Soumillion, he tracked the leaders in fourth place and was best placed to challenge off a steady early pace. Only asked a question inside the final three hundred metres, he eased to the front and ended up winning a shade cosily, with ears pricked as he crossed the line half a length in front and looked to have plenty more in the tank.

With Master Carpenter clearly most effective on a soft surface, we decided to miss Royal Ascot and our decision was certainly vindicated by success at Chantilly. It also showed that he can travel abroad which certainly opens up more options, especially as there is often ease in the ground in France. He could well head back across the English Channel for a Group 2 at Maisons-Laffitte in three weeks time. Long time aim could be the QEII at Ascot's Champions meeting, with soft ground likely and Top Notch Tonto showed last year that place prize money is achievable for horse that might not be true Group 1 class but are most effective in soft ground.