Group 3 third for Big Blue

Big Blue finished third in the G3 Haras de la Pomme (Argentine) Prix de Reux at Deauville, France, on Sunday, August 7.

The four-year-old, trained by Andre Fabre and ridden by Mickael Barzalona, was held up in third of the six runners over 12 and a half furlongs on turf.

A steady pace was set up by Cohesion and two and a half furlongs out, by which time Ventura Storm had gone to the front, Big Blue was asked to try and challenge.

He went second but the Godolphin hope could not close the gap on the leader. Even so, he looked like retaining the runner-up spot before but was challenged close home by both Moonshiner, who gained second by a head, and Pacific Angel who just failed to snatch third by a nose.

The winning margin was three and a half lengths and Ventura Storm's time came to 2m 44.37s on good ground.

Lisa-Jane Graffard of Godolphin commented: "Big Blue ran well enough but we are still not sure of his best trip."