With a spectacular win in the Prix de la Grotte (Gr3), Qemah (Danehill Dancer) is now one of the favourites for the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Gr1).
Owned by Al Shaqab Racing, she had the race won in two strides, thanks to the kind of acceleration that separates the good horses from the champions. A bit keen in the early stages, Qemah was sat in sixth or seventh position by Grégory Benoist. In the straight, as Antonoé (First Defense) and Kenriya (Kendargent) began to battle for victory, Qemah was still blocked in and had not been asked to go. As soon as she had a gap, she kicked and left her rivals standing. In the end she finished in front of Kenriya by two and a half lengths.
Qemah was making her seasonal comeback after she finished last year with a third place in the Total Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr1) when she competed with the best of the French runners.
She has now confirmed her Classic potential and Jean-Claude Rouget confided: “She is a very good filly, who could have finished closer in the Boussac if she had had a better run. She is not very demonstrative in the mornings, so I was waiting to see what she could do. I liked the way she accelerated at the end a lot. She will go to the Poule d’Essai, then the Coronation Stakes. She will be running for the first time on the straight at Deauville, but so will many of the others. We wouldn’t want too much rain.”