French racing column: Graeme North Sunday tips

Frances’s premier Flat hippodrome ParisLongchamp hosted its final fixture of the season last weekend and it was fitting it was graced by the home-trained horse who together with his stablemate Calandagan posted the highest Timeform performance rating during 2024, Goliath, whose King George win at Ascot was, like Calandagan’s International second, deemed worthy of a 128 rating for all Calandagan’s current rating is marginally higher at 129 after consideration is taken for the poor position he was asked to overcome at York.

Regular readers of this column will be aware I questioned last week’s Goliath’s readiness for the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris, not just because he was conceding 4lb all round but for the bigger reasons that he’d missed an opening in Germany because of a foot problem en-route to the Japan Cup and had also shown significant improvement at Ascot at the end of a strongly-run race on fast ground having been beaten by some of his Conseil rivals in more tactical affairs on slower surfaces in the preceding twelve months.

However, those who took the short odds needn’t have worried. Admittedly, the opposition wasn’t absolutely top notch, with eventual second favourite Marquisat returning from a break himself, and third favourite Hamish for all he relishes the mud turning up after two lack-lustre efforts, but he never looked in any danger, cruising up to the Hamish’s quarters approaching the 400m marker and only needing to be kept up to his work late on as Hamish kept at it and Marquisat got going too late.

With Arc sixth Zarakem weak in the market and well below form, and the regressive Monty finishing a bit too close to comfort, Goliath didn’t need to run close to his King George level – Timeform thought it worth 123 – but it confirmed his King George improvement besides a new-found versatility and given a return to the conditions under which he thrived at Ascot – fast ground and a strong gallop, remember – he looks to have a leading chance in a Japan Cup which has only twice since 2010 needed a Timeform performance rating of greater than 127 to win it.

The two other elite races on the Longchamp card were listed affairs for females, the Prix Casimir Delamarre over 1800m and the Prix Saint-Cyr over 1400m.

There was no shortage of British interest in either race, particularly the former in which six of the nine runners were trained in Britain but the prize stayed at home with Noir, the latest in a line of recent French listed winners who had made their previous start a winning one in a handicap, seeing off the David O’Meara trained Zarabanda who’d won a handicap herself off a mark of 87 last time but had always come up short for a place when tried at this level numerous times before, suggesting this was a substandard contest for the grade.

Amy Murphy’s Miss Cantik ran better than of late in third without reproducing her Brigadier Gerard form from earlier in the season, but the very progressive (until now) Tareefa from the William Haggas yard was a big disappointment given the increased test of stamina had looked sure to suit her.

Britain also supplied the favourite who ran well below expectations in the Saint-Cyr, in this case Ralph Beckett’s Fair Point who finished stone last. Eased right off as if amiss, this goes down as a missed opportunity given the German-trained winner Ayada didn’t need to run to a level within 5lb of what Fair Point had already achieved to beat off the Karl Burke-trained Melon Twist by three-and-a-half lengths with the Andrew Balding trained Run Away, put forward in this column as one who could step up, back in third at a big price.

The following day there was an interesting card at Deauville which also featured a Group race, in this case the Prix des Reservoirs for two-year-old fillies, and two listed contests, one a sprint for juveniles over 1100m and the other a 2500m contest for three-year-olds.

The Reservoirs hasn’t been a particularly predictive race of late for the Classics the following year but the latest renewal featured a challenger form Beckett’s yard, Sandtrap, who’d created such a good impression she had been given the Timeform large P at Salisbury on her debut, the May Hill fourth Miss Tonnerre and the Prix de Conde runner-up Gezora who was back against her own sex having chased home the Charlie Johnston-trained Lazy Griff at Chantilly.

Watching the race unfold, it didn’t come as a surprise that the eventual winner Gezora proved too far good for Sandtrap as she’s a very powerful-looking filly, almost a colt in size and looks, and once she turned into the straight with a couple of lengths advantage under a no-nonsense ride it was clear Sandtrap was going to have to be a very special filly, which she might still be of course, to run her down. Out of the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Germance, Gezora looks more one for the French Oaks than the French 1000 for now.

The two listed races also stayed in France on a good day for the home team. Clear form pick Une Pointure, third to Sky Majesty in the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffite just over a week earlier, won the Criterium de Vitesse a shade readily, beating the former Burke-trained Kaadi and Adrian Keatley’s Francisco’s Piece without needing to improve.

Newlook, another with a recent French handicap win to his name, this time one of the fiercely competitive ‘quinte’ contests, looked a potential stayer of some quality with 2025 in mind as he responded strongly to run down the front-running Ecureuil Secret from the Richard Fahey stable in the Prix Vulcain. The runner-up who split the pair, Mister Gatz, helps give the form a very solid look.

Two two-year-old winners for the tracker

Later in the week there were a couple of very promising two-year-old winners worth remembering for when 2025 comes around. First up was Darius Cen who ran clean away with a minor event at Clairefontaine under Mikael Barzalona, winning by 11 lengths from a horse who’d finished second last time when he had been third (the horse who won that race and hasn’t been seen since is called Kirchner) and it was fascinating to hear his trainer Victoria Head describe him afterwards as the real deal and a magnificent specimen.

Two days later at Deauville, Francescoli won a newcomers race in fine style by three and a half lengths, showing a very smart turn of foot, for all he had a good position against the rail.

Sunday Saint-Cloud preview

The French Flat season is now in its dying throes, on turf at least, and Sunday’s action comes from Saint-Cloud where three Group 1s are scheduled to take place, as well as a trio of Group 3s, though you could be forgiven for thinking the first Group 1, the Criterium de Saint-Cloud for two-year-olds over 2000m, is one of the latter and not one of the former.

Just four have been declared, two from Britain (one of whom has a mountain to find) and two from Ireland, with all of the top three on Timeform ratings, the Beresford Stakes runner-up Tennessee Stud, the Zetand Stakes runner-up Green Storm and the May Hill third Ballet Slippers having been beaten at a lower level on their latest starts.

At least the other juvenile Group 1, the Criterium International over 1600m, has attracted a bit of quality with the home-trained Maranoa Charlie, whose last two wide-margin wins including in the Prix Thomas Bryon where he had the Criterium International outsider Harvey almost ten lengths behind him, entitle him to be regarded as the best home-trained staying juvenile in France.

Apples and Bananas and Mount Kilimanjaro have already won in France this year while Matauri Bay made Field Of Gold work hard in the Solario and Twain is an interesting supplementary entry from the Aidan O’Brien stable but it will be a surprise if Maranoa Charlie gets beaten and an even bigger surprise if the home punters don’t send him off much shorter than the 5/4 currently available at the time of writing.

Trueshan makes his first lifetime appearance in the Prix Royal-Oak in a bid to avoid Kyprios and Sweet William but finds himself instead up against the top two stayers in France, Sevenna’s Knight and reigning champion Double Major who won this in 2023 by seven-and-a-half lengths when the race was run at Longchamp.

Double Major looked as good as ever two starts back when running away with the Prix Kergolay but he was eased off after losing his action in the Cadran last time on Arc weekend and faces two other rivals here who like to make the running in Al Qareem and Grosvenor Square.

Align The Stars is a promising young stayer, probably more for next year than this year, but it’s doubtful any horse in the field could have finished fifth in the Arc as Sevenna’s Knight did even after an unhelpful slow start in a messily-run race and he looks the one to beat given he’s more at home over this sort of trip than 2400m.

Jack Channon and David Menuisier are represented in the first Group 3 race, the Prix Perth, with top mile handicapper Johan and the listed Rosemary winner Sirona respectively, but this looks a cracking opportunity for Alcantor to get off the mark for the season.

Third in the French 2000 before finishing sixth in the French Derby, he looked as if he just needed the race when third in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein on Arc weekend, travelling strongly into the lead before tying up at the end of a strongly-run race, earning a much bigger upgrade than the reopposing Marhaba Ya Sanafi who finished just behind him, and he ought to have too much class for his rivals.

Rue Boissonade had to work hard to beat Bel Et Bien back from a five-month break here last month but the runner-up gave the form a boost when beating some listed-level rivals in a minor event at Fontainebleau next time and her best form – fourth in the 2023 Prix Vermeille and Prix de Royallieu – sets her apart from the field in the Prix Belle De Nuit.

Dancing Tango (a winner last October in desperate ground at Navan) and Entrancement, one of two runners David Menuisier saddles, are next best on Timeform ratings with the latter coming into the race in much better form than the former but I wouldn’t be ignoring Entrancement’s stable-companion Panthera who is crying out for a stiff test in bad ground and Theo Bachelot, who retains the ride, will have learned a lot about her after riding her into a staying-on second in a steadily-run listed race here last time over a much shorter trip. So long as the declared eight go to post, I’d be looking to back her each way at 10/1 or bigger.

The concluding Prix de Flore looks a complete headscratcher. RockN’ Swing is a filly I’ve written about several times before but she’s become something of a cliff horse for me and for all the return to a very soft surface for the first time since her winning reappearance might well suit her, given I’ve thought she might be best under those conditions held up off a strong pace at 1600m I can’t really put her forward here persevered with at 2100m.

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