Carrying the colours of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the four-year-old colt MARJAAN (Charm Spirit x Zakiyyah) claimed a second career success when winning the Prix De Moulins at Lyon-La-Soie on Thursday, January 13th.
Trained by Antoine de Watrigant and ridden to success by Fabrice Veron, Marjaan returned to action for the first time since scoring at Tarbes in October and defied a top-weight of 62kgs to take the 2,400m contest in good style.
Breaking well from the stalls, Marjaan was quickly towards the head of the eight-runner field. Princess Maxi (Maxios) took the field along at a strong gallop throug the opening stages of the contest and established an eight-length lead heading down the back straight. Travelling well in third, Marjaan was tucked in behind the Jerome Reynier-trained filly Kristalina (Nayef). On leaving the back straight, Princess Maxi rapidly came back to the field. Kristalina took over in the lead but was quickly challenged by Marjaan. Despite hanging towards the rail, Marjaan began to stretch clear of the field inside the final 300m. Galloping on strongly to the line, Marjaan held off the late challenges of the fast-finishing Angelino (Scissor Kick) and Marguns (Anodin) and went on to score by a length at the line. Angelino got the better of the Marguns for second, while Kristalina faded inside the closing stages and finished fourth.
Bred by Haras De Victot, Marjaan is by Haras De Logis based stallion Charm Spirit (Invincible Spirit). His dam, Zakiyyah (Monsun) was a winner at Compiegne when trained by Nicolas Clement. She is a sister to six winners, including Shediak (Selkirk) who placed third in the Jean-Luc Lagardere (Group 1) for Andre Fabre, before going on to win a Listed race in the USA.
Source: Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club