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Excelebration took advantage of a Group One race without Frankel by landing the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Sunday for Aidan O'Brien.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Ridden by substitute jockey Christophe Soumillon after Ryan Moore was ruled out because of a fall, the four-year-old raced in mid-division for much of the Group One contest as Elusive Kate made the running.
The leader kept on strongly but she succumbed when Cityscape and Excelebration tackled her entering the final furlong and it was the Ballydoyle runner who proved strongest.
He was well on top at the line and scored by a length and a quarter.
The Roger Charlton-trained Cityscape took second, a neck ahead of John Gosden's Elusive Kate with the fast-finishing Moonlight Cloud a close fourth.
It was a well-deserved victory at the top level for Excelebration, who had chased home Frankel in no less the four Group Ones and headed to France instead of tackling the great horse again in the recent Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.
O'Brien was absent, but Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock said: "He is in the Moulin and the QEII and I think one or other, or both, is next on the horizon for him.
"He's in all the top mile races worldwide."
Soumillon added: "It was a fantastic chance ride to get. I feel very sorry for Ryan as he was telling me before his fall that he thought the horse would win."
Charlton said of Cityscape: "We've been beaten by a plainly better horse today, but it was a brave effort and he galloped all the way to the line.
"We can't be anything other than pleased, and now anything is possible.
"Ascot (Champions Day) would be a target, depending on what Frankel does. If Frankel sticks to a mile and a quarter we would go for the QEII."
