World Racing Weekly: Pearled Majesty, Lovcen & Sun Goddess

Forty Years On, Pearled Majesty Carries Head Family Dreams In French Derby

Two Derbies demand attention this Sunday, one in Tokyo’s western suburbs, the other just north of Paris. Results at Fuchu and Chantilly could shape careers and forge legacies as Lovcen attempts to continue his pursuit of Japan’s Triple Crown in the G1 Tokyo Yushun, and in France trainer Aidan O’Brien will launch a strong assault on the G1 Prix du Jockey Club. 

But O’Brien’s potential quintet, headed by the impressive recent Listed Dee Stakes winner Constitution River and the G1 Futurity Trophy winner Hawk Mountain will be up against the best France has. That includes Criquette Head-Maarek, a Prix du Jockey Club winner as a trainer, now trying to win the race as an owner with Pearled Majesty.

It was 1986 when Bering – owned by her mother Ghislaine Head – won the race for Head-Maarek: her grandfather Willie Head and father Alec Head had both won the race as trainers, too, and her brother Freddy was successful four times as jockey, but there has been no Head family Prix du Jockey Club success as trainer, jockey or owner in the 40 years since.  

Pearled Majesty, owned in partnership with trainer Mauricio Delcher Sanchez, is actually a product of the Head family’s breeding operation, which was sold in its entirety four years ago. He was spotted at the sales by Head-Maarek’s grandson Fernando Laffon. Delcher Sanchez liked the colt too, so an owner partnership was formed and the retired trainer – now  a four-time great-grandmother splitting her time between France, Switzerland and the Bahamas – is happy to leave the work to the current trainer.

“Mauricio knows this horse perfectly,” Head-Maarek said. “He is the one who shaped him and brought him to this level. The colt was not easy at first, he was somewhat immature, and Mauricio has done a fantastic job with him. I am delighted that he is training him and also delighted to have found a horse capable of running in such a race. 

“When you buy a yearling or a foal, you never know how far they will go. So to find yourself at the start of a ‘Jockey Club’ is already something fantastic.”

The colt is still learning the game but heads into Sunday with five runs to his name, the last three being wins. 

“We have always thought highly of Pearled Majesty,” said Delcher Sanchez, who is chasing a first Prix du Jockey Club win. “Last year, he showed us very promising things in the mornings, but he was still very immature in his behavior. He was not always focused and needed time to mature. 

“This year, from two to three years old, he has really stepped up. He has gained physical and mental maturity. Since his comeback, he has continued to improve. His latest victory [on April 12 in the Prix Noailles] was a genuine confirmation race against already serious opposition. Today, he arrives at his peak: he is doing very well, in top form, and has enough experience. All the lights are green.”

Pearled Majesty has raced keenly, eager to go a beat faster in his first two wins when he was settled back in the field. But last time, in the G3 Prix Noailles, with no one eager to make the running, the son of Persian King made almost all and galloped away for a smart win.

“I believe horses should be allowed to gallop in their natural action,” Delcher Sanchez continued. “I do not like to restrain them. This horse has a huge stride, he likes to move forward and that has to be respected … but he is not a horse who absolutely needs to be in front. What matters is that he can gallop freely and in his own rhythm.”

Cristian Demuro will plot Pearled Majesty’s course around Chantilly, be that from the front or not, but by then, Lovcen’s race in Tokyo will already have been run and after his make-all Satsuki Sho win, he is expected to be prominent in running again. 

Trainer Haruki Sugiyama, like Delcher Sanchez, has not won a Derby yet. But he has navigated a similar route before, guiding Daring Tact to the Fillies’ Triple Crown six years ago. 

Lovcen’s own Triple Crown bid hangs on this second leg, and just as in Chantilly, the best of his peers will be gathered to make the task a worthy test. If he has things his way in front, he’ll be hard to pass, and the same might be true for Pearled Majesty.

This Week In Horse Racing History

Lester Piggott, considered the greatest jockey Britain has ever produced, passed away on May 29, 2022 at age 86. In a career spanning from 1948 to 1995 he won 30 British classics, including the Derby nine times, and rode some of the turf’s greatest stars, including Petite Etoile, Sir Ivor, Nijinsky, Dahlia, Sagaro and Ardross. 

It was on May 30, 1936 that the previous year’s U.S. Triple Crown hero Omaha stepped out at Kempton Park for the second time as he prepared for a shot at the Gold Cup at Ascot. He had already won his British debut at the track on May 9 and he duly scored again, taking the two-mile Queen’s Plate from Bobsleigh in a thrilling finish. But when it came to Ascot, Omaha was famously beaten in the two and a half-mile Gold Cup by the previous year’s Oaks winner Quashed.

Idol Horse Reads Of The Week

David Morgan was in Paris last Thursday where he saw Daryz perform like a champion in front of ParisLongchamp’s almost exclusively Gen Z JeuXdi crowd, and heard from France-Galop executives about the French racing industry’s current “survival mode” and their openness to change and adaptation in order to save the business.

David Morgan

Daryz And JeuXdi For The Win As France-Galop Tackles “Survival Mode”

Meanwhile, after Queensland’s cult hero sprinter Rothfire won his second Group 1 six years after the first, Adam Pengilly spoke to trainer Robert Heathcote, who showed him the little jar of bones that reminds him of the gelding’s brush with death.  

Adam Pengilly

Rothfire And The Little Jar That Holds A Racing Miracle

Shane Dye keeps the talking straight in this week’s Idol Thoughts column as he gives his considered and forthright take on why the stewards got it wrong about James McDonald’s controversial move on Romantic Warrior in Sunday’s Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin.

Shane Dye

James McDonald Got Off Light: Why The Stewards Got His Suspension Wrong

Racing Photo Of The Week

Date
24 May, 2026

Photographer
@shuhei.okada

Location
Tokyo Racecourse

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Global Blackbook

It’s been said here before that two-year-old maidens should always be treated with a bit of caution, but Sun Goddess’s five-length win in a six-furlong maiden at the Curragh on Sunday confirmed the promise of her debut run and suggests she should progress to the high grades.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained filly was an eye-catching dead-heat second on debut at Naas earlier this month, beaten only a head after missing the break and racing immaturely. The winner that day was her stablemate, Carry The Flag, who just 30 minutes after Sun Goddess broke her duck on Sunday, went out and ran second to yet another stablemate, Great Barrier Reef, in the G3 Marble Hill Stakes. That race is usually won by a top-class juvenile.

Sun Goddess broke smartly this time under Ryan Moore, raced easily in the front rank, took it up two furlongs out and stretched out without much fuss. Put all that together and the daughter of Sioux Nation should be a fixture in high-class juvenile fillies’ sprint contests this summer.

Sun Goddess (Sioux Nation) shines brightly 🤩

A good start to the day for team @Ballydoyle Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore @curraghrace ✅ pic.twitter.com/Ui9MYvqQ4r

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 24, 2026

World Horse Racing Calendar: What’s Coming Up

Oaks Day
Epsom, England, June 5

Aidan O’Brien’s Amelia Earhart is still at the head of the antepost betting for the fillies’ classic after her win in the Listed Cheshire Oaks last time, but her stablemate Precise could yet take her on after her win in the G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas over a mile at the Curragh on Sunday. Last year’s G1 Fillies’ Mile winner had been only seventh behind True Love in the G1 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket previously, but at the Curragh she had True Love second and could well try to emulate the O’Brien-trained Imagine who won the Irish Guineas and the Oaks at Epsom 25 years ago. Meanwhile Legacy Link, trained by John and Thady Gosden, is a top candidate after her victory in the G3 Musidora Stakes at York. 

Derby Day
Epsom, England, June 6

Aidan O’Brien often holds the key to the Derby, a race he has won 11 times. This time his likely first choice is Benvenuto Cellini, winner of the G3 Chester Vase. His stablemate Constitution River also impressed at Chester, winning the Listed Dee Stakes, but he seems likely to go to Chantilly for the G1 Prix du Jockey Club this weekend over a mile and a quarter. The G2 Dante Stakes is often a big pointer to the Derby, too, and this year’s winner Item has the look of a late-developing colt making rapid strides. That was the Andrew Balding-trained Juddmonte homebred’s third start – he has won all three – following minor wins at Kempton and Bath last September. 

Gold Challenge Day
Greyville, South Africa, June 6

The G1 Gold Challenge is a prime lead-in to the G1 Durban July and the last two years have seen Dave The King win the mile contest. The hat-trick seeker warmed up at Scottsville on May 17, placing third over 1400m off a four-month break.

The Stradbroke & Q22
Eagle Farm, Australia, June 13

The 1400m G1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm is one of the highlights of Brisbane’s winter carnival and last year War Machine landed the spoils. New Zealand star Rough Habit won the race back-to-back in 1991 and 1992, while other notable victors are Dane Ripper, Daybreak Lover, Tofane and Alligator Blood. The day also features the G2 Q22 over 2200m and the G1 JJ Atkins Stakes over a mile for two-year-olds.

Royal Ascot
Ascot, England, June 16-20

The five-day Royal Ascot meeting features a wealth of high-class racing, the highlights being the G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes in which last year’s winner Ombudsman could clash with the Arc winner Daryz, the G1 Queen Anne Stakes, G1 Gold Cup, G1 St James’s Palace Stakes, G1 Coronation Stakes, G1 King Charles III Stakes, G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes and G1 Commonwealth Cup. 

Irish Derby Day 
Curragh, Ireland, June 28

The Irish Derby was first run in 1866 and it is not uncommon to see the Derby winner at Epsom head to Ireland to attempt the Derby double. Orby in 1907 was the first to achieve that feat and last year saw Lambourn become the latest. Lambourn’s trainer Aidan O’Brien has won the Irish Derby an incredible 17 times, the first being Desert King in 1997.

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