Louise Procter was a very late addition to this series. In truth, I had completely forgotten about her impressive debut back in May, but the fact that she suffered a setback and wasn’t seen again until her recent return on the PSF at Deauville doesn’t appear to have had any impact on her ability. She made a flying start for Jean-Claude Rouget when winning a newcomers event at Saint-Cloud in May, showing a very willing attitude when having to wait for a gap to appear in the closing stages before quickening with a lightning turn-of-foot to get her head in front in the final few strides. Running closing splits of 11.22 and 11.18s on ground described as good to soft pointed to an above average ability and the fact that the Fillies who chased her home are now rated 39 and 41.5 has only aided her claims. In fact, the winner of the Group 3 Prix De Conde, Shiffrin, was only 8th in that contest which points to the strength in depth of this newcomer's event.
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She made her return in a Class 2 event at Deauville last week and having been well supported in the market, she settled beautifully and came with a sustained late run to get the better of the hat-trick seeking Best of Light. In truth, she was good value for the length and a quarter winning margin and certainly wasn’t fully extended by Enzo Crublet. The overall time figure was good and her penultimate furlong, run in 10.83s, was over half-a-second faster than any other horse in the field was able to manage. Following Siyouni as a Sire on the PSF in France can be a very profitable system, so it was no surprise to see her take to it so well and the fact that Jean-Claude Rouget chose to bring her back in December would suggest that a winter campaign, possibly at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, is on the cards. It remains to be seen as to how good she will ultimately prove to be, but having readily dispatched some good yardsticks already, I will be surprised if she doesn’t quickly make up into a pattern class performer, especially in the first few months of 2024.