Zarigana will start an overwhelming favorite for the first French fillies' classic, the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, G1) May 11 at Longchamp, although some might argue her price is hard to justify based on her last two starts.
Deep ground and a wide trip cost her a narrow defeat to stablemate Vertical Blue in the Prix Marcel Boussac (G1) last October, while the bare form of her neck defeat of Shes Perfect over the Pouliches course and distance in the Prix de la Grotte (G3) on her reappearance is difficult to get carried away with.
Shes Perfect provides Kieran Shoemark with the opportunity to bounce back from a difficult week as he bids for a first classic.
The jockey rides for Charlie Fellowes in both Longchamp classics, eight days after getting within half a length of landing the Two Thousand Guineas (G1) on Field of Gold, a ride that contributed to the jockey losing his position as first rider to trainers John and Thady Gosden.
Shoemark said May 9 he was concentrating on presenting "the best version of myself on and off the track" and Shes Perfect may be his best chance of group 1 glory on the card, with Fellowes optimistic the filly has come on for her Prix de la Grotte run.
He said: "She has excellent gate speed and she's not going to have such a big field to deal with. We'll want to be in the first half of the field and if nobody wants to lead and we end up in front again, so be it. She looks fantastic and she's definitely tightened up for the run."
There are more guarantees on the stamina front with Shes Perfect, who will almost certainly get a mile and a quarter in time but has valuable course experience over a mile.
Arguably the biggest danger to Zarigana could be her unexposed stablemate Mandanaba, whose group 3 win over 1 1/8 miles of Longchamp's tighter Moyenne course suggests she is not devoid of pace.
That said, she would have been a more natural fit in the Prix Saint-Alary (G2) earlier on the card and it is hard to escape the feeling she will be even more effective in the Prix de Diane (G1), while this is D-day for Zarigana.
Racing manager Nemone Routh said: "Mandanaba is very straightforward at home and we took the decision to run both because you don't often get classics coming up with both of your fillies in good form.
"She's got her ground and she's very well so we felt she deserved to take her chance."
Despite the presence of Mandanaba, confidence in Zarigana is high and Routh said: "She needed to run in the Grotte, both mentally and physically.
"She was very professional in her piece of work this week. She's got the whole hype around her and although she's probably a little bit less straightforward than Mandanaba, Mickael (Barzalona) knows her very well.
"She definitely has the ability to run a big race and I think she probably will. She'll appreciate some pace in the race, she'll like the fast ground and I think she has the ability to do it—she just has to go and prove it."
