Trueshan passed the £2m prize money mark with brave third at Saint-Cloud

October 27

Trueshan climaxed another lucrative season when finishing a brave third behind last year’s winner Double Major in the G1 Prix Royal-Oak at Saint-Cloud today.

Hollie Doyle, who knows Trueshan almost as well as she does her husband, Tom Marquand, cut out the running on our evergreen eight-year-old, but at the two-furlong pole she was tackled by two of France’s best staying four-year-olds, Double Major, who had run out of stamina over the extra half-mile of the Prix du Cadran, and hot-favourite Sevenna’s Knight, who had the class to finish fifth to Bluestocking in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe three weeks ago.

Defeat is a word which has never been in Trueshan’s vocabulary, and, though Double Major always looked in charge once he had collared the leader, Trueshan kept on battling, and it was only close home that he gave best to the four years younger pair, being pipped for the runner-up spot by Sevenna’s Knight.

However, those third-place earnings were enough for Trueshan, who has won 16 races, to take his prize money haul past the £2m mark, some achievement when one considers he was bought for a mere 31,000 at the Newmarket Breeze=Up Sales six years ago.

Doyle was justifiably proud of Trueshan afterwards. She said;”It’s the first time that he has gone back-to-back in France, but, though he has not won a G1 this season, he has arguably been more consistent that at any time in his career.

“Since winning at Sandown in early July, Trueshan has finished second in both a Doncaster Cup and a Prix Cadran, and he also ran well on ground too fast in the Goodwood Cup. He’s still enjoying his racing and he always pulls up fine, which is what you want from an old boy.”