ALBIGNA bounced back from her Moyglare Stud Stakes flop to lift the Prix Marcel Boussac as the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe card got underway at Longchamp.
The victory represented a second fillies’ Group 1 for trainer Jessica Harrington after Millisle’s triumph in the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket eight days previously.
After watching Shane Foley and the daughter of Zoffany, who finished sixth to Love at the Curragh on Irish Champions Weekend, Harrington said: “In the Moyglare she ran a bit free and was found to be in season - today we saw the real Albigna.”
Harrington, whose winner earned a 14-1 quote for next year’s 1,000 Guineas, admitted to worries over Albigna’s ability to cope with the rain-softened surface, adding: “It was an unknown quantity more than anything else.
“We just didn’t know, but she handled it very well.”
The Co Kildare trainer, who saddled Alpha Centauri, carrying the colours of the Niarchos family, to capture four Group 1 prizes last season, will bid for a fillies’ Group 1 treble with Cayenne Pepper in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket next Friday.
“After the year we had with Alpha Centauri last year I didn’t possibly think I could have a year this year with the two-year-old fillies,” said Harrington.
