G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest third for Space Blues

Space Blues ran on well to take third in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest over six and a half furlongs, the shortest distance he has raced over, at Deauville on Sunday, 4 August.

The three-year-old Dubawi colt broke from stall three and raced in third last of the 15 runners among the small group towards the inside rail.

William Buick moved Space Blues over to the main bunch in the centre of the course when starting to make headway with two and a half furlongs remaining.

Space Blues, trained by Charlie Appleby, progressed past opponents and took third in the closing stages, without getting to the front two. Advertise beat Brando by a neck in 1m 15.35s on good turf, with three quarters of a length back to the Godolphin colt.

Charlie Appleby commented: “This was another solid run from Space Blues – there are no excuses as he was beaten by two G1 performers.

“Potentially, we could try sprint races (6f) with Space Blues – the pace today was on the other side rather than his unfortunately.”

Space Blues finished a clear second to Too Darn Hot in the G1 Prix Jean Prat over seven furlongs at Deauville last month.