3 minute read

Garswood finally claimed the big prize he has often promised with victory in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville.

Partnered by Gerald Mosse over the rarely run trip of six and a half furlongs, the son of Dutch Art raced on the outside of the Group One field, tracking the well-touted Thawaany as Irish challenger Fiesolana took the 14 runners along.

It looked for a while as though Fiesolana might keep them all at bay, but she began to falter as Mosse produced Garswood to perfection around a furlong and a half out to get the better of a battle with Thawaany by half a length.

The runner-up, who was bidding to give Freddy Head another victory in a race he has made his own, had Fiesolana a length and a quarter away in third.

Winner of the Free Handicap last season and not unfancied in the 2000 Guineas won by Dawn Approach, where he was seventh, the Richard Fahey-trained Garswood has consistently kept top company.

He ran arguably a career-best when third to Moonlight Cloud in the seven-furlong Prix de la Foret at the end of the 2013 campaign and had been out of luck in four prior outings this year, albeit not without showing promise.

Fahey said: "It's just great to win a Group One with him as he is an absolute gentleman of a horse. A gentleman with a lot of ability, which is what you want.

"I can honestly say I've never trained a horse with a mind like his. He literally doesn't have a care in the world. He never sweats or plays up or anything like that. I could put my daughter on him.

"We tried him in the blinkers and the visor and while I wouldn't say they were a disadvantage, they weren't helping him, so we left everything off today.

"The only time the blinkers worked was when I used them first time in a piece of work. He worked like a Group One horse that day, but he doesn't need them. There's nothing wrong with his attitude, as he's shown today.

"The Prix de la Foret has been his main aim all year. He got beaten by a very good filly (Moonlight Cloud) in the race last year and it has to be high on the agenda again.

"He's in the Haydock race (Sprint Cup), so whether we stop off there on the way to France, we'll see."

Emma Armstrong, who owns Garswood with her husband David in partnership with Cheveley Park Stud, said: "We knew he had his ground and we knew he could do it today. In England he has been very frustrating, but in France he gets his conditions and he runs well."

Mosse added: "All the way I was going really well, and when I asked him to go at the 350-metre pole he just went and did it. He loved the soft ground and is a horse that never gives up."