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Statistic Of The Week of French Racing News - 26th August 2021.
The Grand Prix de Deauville is a Group Two contest staged at the end of Deauville's fabulous summer carnival, run over 2500m, open to thoroughbreds aged three or older. Three-year-olds receive a 4kg weight allowance, with fillies and mares receiving 1.5kg. Any horse to have won a Group One carries a 2kg penalty, with every Group Two winner allotted an extra 1kg.
Dating back to 1866, the race was originally called the Coupe de Deauville, open to horses aged three and older and run over 2400m. In 1871, the contest became the Grand Prix de Deauville. This title was dropped briefly between 1908 and 1911, in favour of the Grand Prix de Trouville-Deauville. The race was cancelled due to war from 1914 to 1918 and also in 1940. This event has raced over differing distances since inception – notably raised to 2600m in 1903, reduced to 2500m when staged at Longchamp and Maisons-Laffitte in the 1940s, before being raised to 2700m in 1973. Since 1990, the race has returned to its current distance of 2500m.
Over these past ten years the calibre of horse required to win this prize has been predominantly one who has not scaled the heights of Group One success, yet has reached the placings at Group Two level or above. Eight of the last ten winners have placed in Group Two company, including four who have reached the frame at Group One standard. The table below shows the importance of finishing in the top three at this level prior to success in this race. As highlighted horses all placed in Group Two company or higher before winning the Grand Prix de Deauville:
| Date | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer |
| 2011 | Cirrus des Aigles | 5 | Franck Blondel | Corine Barande-Barbe |
| 2012 | Masterstroke | 3 | Mickael Barzalona | André Fabre |
| 2013 | Tres Blue | 3 | Fabrice Veron | Henri-Alex Pantall |
| 2014 | Cocktail Queen | 4 | Alexis Badel | Myriam Bollack-Badel |
| 2015 | Siljan's Saga | 5 | Pierre-Charles Boudot | Jean-Pierre Gauvin |
| 2016 | Savoir Vivre | 3 | Maxime Guyon | Jean-Pierre Carvalho |
| 2017 | Tiberian | 5 | Olivier Peslier | Alain Couetil |
| 2018 | Loxley | 3 | William Buick | Charlie Appleby |
| 2019 | Ziyad | 4 | Olivier Peslier | Carlos Laffon-Parias |
| 2020 | Telecaster | 4 | Christophe Soumillon | Hughie Morrison |
This season's renewal sees multiple qualifiers for this statistic, headed by Skalleti (Kendargent), who seeks a hat-trick after back-to-back Group One successes. Others to note are the progressive three-time UK Group Three winner Hukum, racing in the colours of the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum; last term's runner-up in this event Soft Light (Authorized); 2018 G1 Prix du Cadran (4000m) winner Call The Wind; Group Two-winning three-year-old colt Baby Rider and the Godolphin-owned Sublimis (Shamardal).
