Deauville will stage its much-awaited August meeting from Sunday until 27 August, and hopes are high that the French can make up for lost time. The locals were beaten 5-0 in the Deauville Gr.1 match in 2022, but things are looking up with the overall score now standing at 7-3, with the Jockey-Club and Diane trophies staying at home.

Proceedings get under way on 30 July with the Gr.1 Prix Rothschild. Attracting some of the best distaff milers on the continent, the last French horses to win the race were With You in 2018 and Watch Me two years later. Irish- and English-trained horses have won in respective years, but domestic hopefuls will be well represented in this year’s edition.

The Gr.1 Prix Maurice de Gheest (6 August), run over 1300m, has for some time been a target for overseas runners and 2022 was no exception. Trained in the north of England, Highfield Princess scooped last year’s prize, showing exceptional speed, with the first French finisher coming in for eighth!

The most valuable Group 1 of the meeting will be run a week later (13 August), and the Prix Jacques le Marois, arguably the most coveted turf mile race on the global programme, won by the likes of Goldikova, Moonlight Cloud, Kingman, and Esoterique, will be worth €1,000,000 with €571,400 to the winner. 

The following Sunday (20 August) sees a brace of Gr.1s on the programme. While the 2000m Prix Jean Romanet is a quality race in its own right, it is the Prix Morny, for 2 year-olds, that will draw most attention. The only French horse to win in the last ten editions was André Fabre’s Earthlight in 2019. This year however, Christopher Head’s Ramatuelle has a live chance to start correcting the imbalance.