Trainer believes filly's versatility will make her a threat no matter how she is drawn Any similarities between last year's Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup winner Pride and her stablemate in this year's Mile, Darjina, end with two factors - both are trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre and both ranked the world's outstanding female racehorse - and perhaps that will be quite enough on Sunday. One of France's most experienced and successful Group One trainers, De Royer-Dupre is only too happy to declare Darjina 'in the same class' as the bay mare he brought 12 months ago for the longer race. 'Of course, a different distance and different type of filly, but very high class. She is a special filly,' he said yesterday at Sha Tin. 'Where Pride was very sensitive and very feminine, Darjina is like a colt. She has a strong physique, I have to train her like a colt. She is always sleeping. In her races, she is very cold and the jockey really has to wake her up and ask her to give her full effort, but Pride was more excitable, keener.' To date the three-year-old, owned by the Aga Khan's daughter Princess Zahra , has woken up nicely to win all five of her seven starts on firm going, with her only blemishes being when the tracks have been softer underfoot. 'The ground is perfect for her here. The competition is of a high level but then she has met high-level competition and won before - she beat Ramonti in the Prix Moulin de Longchamp,' he said. 'To me, the only concern is the filly herself. She is just three, she is at the end of a hard season, so that is the problem - but I have to say that to my eye she looks perfectly well. She lost six kilos on the travel here but has put four kilos back on and I am happy with her.' The veteran of 55 Group One wins already, de Royer-Dupre is not concerned about the draw today as she has proved herself highly versatile. She stalked the lead in third when she ruthlessly brushed aside Ramonti in the Prix Moulin, but came from the rear with a big finish when she outpointed Finsceal Beo in the French 1000 Guineas. 'She can be wherever the pace of the race dictates,' he said. For his Sprint entry, Tiza, however, de Royer-Dupre admitted to still be on a learning curve with the former South African galloper who came to him via Dubai-based Herman Brown. 'He has been with me just a few months, so he is still adapting to my methods,' he said. 'The first time I ran him, he won very easily at Deauville but then he was very nervous and difficult and was beaten in his next races. 'I don't know if he is a real Group One horse and the level of competition in the Sprint is very high, but he has good acceleration so we will try him and see how he can handle it. 'His run in the Prix de l'Abbaye was very good but he found the 1,000m too short. Perhaps he is one who would like the ground to be soft, but anyway, the track does not seem hard so we will see.'
