NEWS
Proportional surpasses expectations in Criterium des Pouliches
Posted: Sunday, October 05, 2008 4:41 PM
by Mike Curry
Overlooked at 20-to-1 odds off a maiden victory, Proportional rewarded her connections' decision to take a shot in the $414,480 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac Criterium des Pouliches (Fr-G1) with a dominant three-length victory on Sunday at Longchamp.
Trained by Criquette Head-Maarek for owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah, the Beat Hollow (GB) filly entered off a win in a 1,400-meter (6.95-furlong) race for maiden two-year-old fillies at Chantilly on September 11. She finished fourth in her debut at Deauville on August 10.
Proportional stalked pacesetter Marquesa and accelerated under Stephane Pasquier entering the straight in the 1,600-meter (7.95-furlong) race for two-year-old fillies. She overhauled that foe and drove clear to a convincing win in 1:36 on good to soft turf.
“She'll be entered in the One Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) and she will tell me what to do. She's the boss,” Head-Maarek told England’s Press Association. “The first time she ran in Deauville I thought she was a very good filly. She was my best and I thought she would win that race.
"She didn't understand what we asked her at Deauville. She was green. Then I ran her again and she won very well at Chantilly. I asked [Khalid Abdullah] if he would let me run her here, and I think we did the right thing."
Head-Maarek’s brother, Freddie Head, won both the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium (Fr-G1) and Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp (Fr-G1) on the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) undercard.
Proportional is out of multiple Group 3-placed winner Minority, by Generous.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
