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Godolphin will be eyeing another Group 1 winner this season when Persian King lines up at the starting gate in the Prix d'Ispahan in Chantilly, France, on Sunday.
The four-year-old colt will be making his third start of the season and sixth of his career that has already seen Andre Fabre's charge win a Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 race.
Persian King had made a winning debut, triumphing in a Group 3 contest no less, when landing the Prix de Fontainebleau at Longchamp last April.
A month later at the same venue, he stepped up to the plate and showed his class when emerging victorious in the Group 1 The Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains. It could have been a hat-trick of wins and a second Group 1 winner on the trot had he not been denied by Sottsass in the Prix du Jockey Club in Chantilly.
Persian King had started out this season with a second-place finish in a Listed race at Chantilly - the Prix de Montretout, last month and then went on to triumph in the Group 2 Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud.
Godolphin have had eight Group 1 winners so far this season and Persian King has a shot at making it a ninth.
Godolphin have won this race twice with Emirati handler Saeed bin Suroor and celebrated Italian jockey Frankie Dettori partnering to guide Hailing and Best of the Bests to victories in 1996 and 2002.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has also tasted success twice following back-to-back race wins in 1989 and 1990.
Indian Skimmer, saddled by Henry Cecil and the ride of Steve Cauthen, had won it in 1989 and Creator was victorious the next year when trained and ridden by Fabre and Cash Asmussen respectively.
"Persian King is in really good form and has come on again from his latest start. We are hopeful of a good performance," said Fabre, who will be looking to make it nine victories in the race and go clear of Charles Semblat. Both are tied as the leading trainer of the race with eight wins.
Fabre's previous victories were on Al Nasr (1982), Crystal Glitters (1984), Creator (1990), Arcangues (1993), Loup Sauvage (1998), Valixir (2005), Manduro (2007) and Golden Lilac (2012).
Elsewhere, at The Curragh in Ireland, Godolphin filly Cerro Bayo will be racing in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes over nine furlongs.
The four-year-old daughter of Dansili, the ride of Kevin Manning, had made a winning debut for Jim Bolger, when clinching the Londis Roscommon Maiden last August. She has had two other runs so far when she placed sixth and seventh.
"Cerro Bayo is very well and I am expecting a good effort from a very genuine filly. She was hampered last time when in contention for a share of the spoils," said Bolger.
james@khaleejtimes.com
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