Revenge is sweet for French Guineas winner

Lucayan won the French 2000 Guineas here at Longchamp on Sunday to give his owners the perfect revenge for having their filly Liliside disqualified after winning the 1000 Guineas two years ago. What made it even sweeter for Ahmed Mouknass and Anthony Forde was that the breeder of Lucayan Jean-Pierre Colombo was the steward responsible for disqualifying their filly in 2010. Despite their delight and that of trainer Francois Rohaut, the race was overshadowed by Aidan O'Brien's runner Furners Green collapsing after the winning post and having to be put down after finishing a valiant third. The surprise runner-up was Veneto, who had been the pacemaker for hot faovurite and Europe's top juvenile last year Dabirsim but his chances disappeared when he got blocked coming up the rail under Christophe Soumillon in the straight. "This is amazing for me as I studied at Royal Holloway in London and I used to see all these elegantly made up women going past on their way to Ascot and I said I would like to have horses one day worthy of running there," the Mauritania-born Mounknass told AFP. "I used to ride for miles in the desert in Mauritania so I always had an affinity with horses. "This is my third year of being an owner and it is a dream after the emotional disappointment to have been disqualified two years ago. "What is even sweeter for us is that the breeder of the winner was the man who disqualified us!" added the banker, who also has a fishery business with Forde that has an annual haul of 200,000 fish. The generously whiskered Forde, Moroccan-born but of Irish descent, was lost for words. "My mouth has gone dry, I have no saliva left from cheering and need a drink, but it feels terrific!" he grinned. Soumillon, who was criticised for being too confident on his first ride on Dabirsim, said his horse had done well to get back into contention. "He raced far better today than the first time this season, but he got totally blocked when we made our run and then having got back upsides the leaders 250 metres from the line he simply ran out of gas," said Soumillon. Earlier Soumillon had given Beauty Parlour a superb ride in a rough French 1000 Guineas to come through and win on the favourite. Behind her there was mayhem as horses fought to pass those tiring with O'Brien's favoured runner Up making ground on Beauty Parlour once she broke free. However, O'Brien's 18-year-old son Joseph was not able to conjure up enough of a finishing burst to get upsides Beauty Parlour who ran out the winner by a length while Topeka, trained by Robert Collet, finished third behind Up after encountering all sorts of trouble in the straight. "She's unbeaten so you can't really say more about her," beamed her Tunisian-born Chantilly-based trainer Elie Lellouche. "It was a far from ideal race in the way it was run and Christophe did well to send her to the front when he did. "She is in both the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot but I would like to send her to the Diane as its home for me!" Athens, O'Brien's runner in the French Derby trial the Group Two Prix Hocquart, failed to impress finishing fifth of the six runners behind the surprise winner Top Trip. "My wife is in Marrakech but she was able to watch the race and rang me afterwards but for once she was lost for words, just tearful!" said winning-trainer Francois Doumen, who confirmed he would go on to the French Derby in Chantilly on June 3.