Stack hopes late switch pays dividends in Marois Fozzy Stack is banking on a last-minute switch proving the right call as Thesecretadversary attempts to add another top-level victory to his record in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville. Having proved his surprise success in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot was no fluke with a Group One breakthrough in last month’s Prix Jean Prat, the three-year-old was initially set to stick to seven furlongs in the City of York Stakes on Saturday week. However, the shock retirement of Bow Echo and the defection of his old rival Gstaad from the Marois field led to a change of heart, with Stack now preferring to return to France on Sunday rather than wait for a likely clash with five-time Group One-winner Notable Speech on the Knavesmire. When asked whether the news Bow Echo would not be lining up had changed his thinking, the trainer said: “That kind of changed the complexion of everything. “He’d 10lb to find on the figures with Notable Speech in the City of York and he probably doesn’t have as much to find with some of them on Sunday.” The decision means Thesecretadversary returns to a mile for the first time since finishing a never-nearer sixth after encountering serious traffic problems in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. Stack is unconcerned about the extra distance, adding: “I never thought it would be a problem. He finished off the Irish Guineas well. I know he didn’t have much of a race, but he finished it off well. “He got the seven (furlongs) well in Ascot and he got the seven well in Deauville, so I don’t see why it should be a problem.” In Bow Echo’s absence, the Sheikh Mohammed Obaid silks will be carried by the Karl Burke-trained Zeus Olympios. The four-year-old has come up short in two previous outings at Group One level, in the Lockinge at Newbury and the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot, but following a return to winning ways in Ascot’s Summer Mile connections are hoping he can make a breakthrough at the third attempt. Liam O’Rourke, racing and bloodstock manager to Bow Echo’s late owner-breeder, said: “Zeus Olympios was always an entry and probably both horses may not have run, but either way he deserves his place in the line-up. “He’s a horse that we think likes to go well on a straight track as much as he does on a round, the distance will suit him and he’s well, so he deserves to take his chance. “We feel he acquitted himself extremely well on both occasions we’ve tried Group One level, he’s got a hell of a good page on him and we think there’s improvement to come.” The William Haggas-trained More Thunder is another horse looking to break his Group One duck. He placed fourth behind Zeus Olympios in the Summer Mile having previously finished ahead of him when filling the runner-up spot in the Lockinge and the Queen Anne. “It has opened up a touch. He’s been running huge and hopefully this can be his turn to get a Group One. He certainly deserves it,” said jockey Tom Marquand. “He took apart the Hungerford this weekend last year, that was his first real step into the big league and he hasn’t run a bad race since. “He’s an interesting horse because he has a run style which you can’t do much about. I tried to ride him handier last time at Ascot (in the Queen Anne) and he literally couldn’t go any quicker. So when people are saying he’ll get further – I know he won over 10 furlongs as a young horse, but he was a Group One horse in a novice – his run style makes people think that. “I think he’s versatile regarding trip, I honestly don’t know what his optimum trip is, I think a lot of it is down to the way the race is run.” Aidan O’Brien’s Irish 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes heroine Precise is pitched in against the boys for the first time, having found top-class older filly Blue Bolt too strong the last twice, while the home team is headed by Francis-Henri Graffard’s French 2000 Guineas winner Rayif. The field is completed by Dreamliner from Germany, No Lunch, Sir Tommy Cen and two from Japan, Sixpence and Strauss.
