French racing review: Graeme North reflects on the recent action

Whether last week’s Sunday Deauville feature, the Group One Prix Maurice de Gheest, is best classified as a sprint, a long sprint or a short seven-furlong race I’m not entirely sure but however you frame it, the unique 1300m race saw the emergence of another high-class French three-year-old in the shape of the undefeated Lazzat who took his form to a new level in winning his sixth race on the bounce.

Unfortunately, the tracking data which has failed on so many of the big occasions in France this season crumbled again leaving us to rely on visual interpretation and there’s little doubt that Lazzat was visually impressive. The winning distance in the Maurice de Gheest has been a length or less in no fewer than 18 of the 25 renewals this century but not this year.

Indeed, only twice has Lazzat’s three-length winning margin been bettered, and both those wins were achieved by the outstanding mare Moonlight Cloud in whose memory a supporting race on the card was named. Freddy Head's charge, who was effective anywhere from six furlongs to a mile and won six Group One races in total, was rated 129 by Timeform at her peak.

Lazzat isn't that high – yet - but the 126 he has been credited with is the joint-highest in the race in the same time period (along with Moonlight Cloud and 2005 winner Whipper) and being the latest in a recent line of smart French geldings (Goliath, Calandagan and Horizon Dore being others who are aged three or four) he might yet have the chance to emulate Moonlight Cloud’s three successive wins in the race between 2011 and 2013.

Certainly, Lazzat had the Gheest in the bag from some way out for all he was increasing his margin towards the finish, clearly in no need of the pointless pacemaker his stable had run for him in the Paul de Moussac on his previous outing, and none of the rivals behind him are ‘keeping the form down’ as handicappers like to say.

The four-year-old filly Exxtra pretty much ran right up to her best in second, while Beauvatier in third ran his best race of the season despite getting involved in a barging match with Paul de Moussac second Havana Cigar who was too free without cover and ended up being eased. Flora of Bermuda advanced her form slightly in fourth and finished one place ahead of the July Cup winner Mill Stream who was beaten before the slightly longer trip became an issue and might not have been fully over his hard race at Newmarket. Saint Lawrence ran his best race of the season to finish sixth but Khaadem ran another of his poorer ones. Irish challenger Matilde Picotte was again well below form and Great Generation was never at the races and finished tailed off.

Recent Prix Jean Prat winner Puchkine looks another two-timer on this evidence with an off-putting head carriage to boot, while 2023 winner King Gold struggled in a deeper renewal. The Prix de la Foret is the obvious if unambitious end-of-season target if Lazzat stays in France but an audacious trip to Australia seems on the cards in a bid to land the valuable Golden Eagle at Rosehill.

Bradsell back in the mix for Nunthorpe

Earlier in the day, French 2000 Guineas fifth Ramadan got back to winning ways in the Prix Daphnis having been panned by the draw in the French Derby last time but had to work hard to get the better of German challenger Ghorgan who never figured when held up in the German 2000 but looked a different proposition here ridden from the front.

Neither the Prix de Guiche winner Darlinghurst nor my fancy No Lunch (showed a poor action in the straight and might have been feeling the ground which was on the fast side of good) were thereabouts as expected by the betting at the finish and if there was an unlucky one in the race it was French 2000 sixth Supercooled who ought to have been beaten by No Lunch last time but whom upgrades here suggest might have won this with a bit to spare had he been kept closer in touch.

The two supporting Listed races, the Prix Moonlight Cloud and the Prix du Cercle, were both won by British challengers with No Half Measures winning the former and Bradsell the latter. No Half Measures had a clear form advantage in the Moonlight Cloud and probably didn’t quite have to run to the form she showed when winning a Newmarket handicap over five furlongs last time. Not many got involved from behind, so fourth-placed Jasna’s Secret did well in that respect, while Ollie Sangster’s Louis Barthas further cemented his unenviable position as the best three-year-old maiden in training with another useful performance in fifth.

Bradsell overcame a long absence as well as a strong field by Listed standards in the Cercle without too much difficulty and should give another good account in the Nunthorpe later this month having finished third in the race last year. Runner-up Coeur de Pierre, one of the best five-furlong sprinters in France on his day, ran his best race of the year in second while Mgheera backed up her recent Chantilly Listed win in third.

There had also been British success at Deauville the previous day when Klondike landed the Group 3 Prix de Reux over 2500m by a length from Sacred Spirit who had won a Listed race at Lyon in June. The race developed into a sprint (finishing speed around 113%) and Klondike was much better placed than the runner-up with the latter finishing strongly enough to think he might have won another day.

Maw Lam was sent off a short-priced favourite for the Listed Prix de la Vallee d’Auge but had to be satisfied with another third place, running as well as she did in the Queen Mary but edged out by the home-trained La Samana who had been on the wrong part of the track at La Teste last time and Irish raider Shamrock Breeze who saw her race out better granted this speedier test. Amy Murphy’s increasingly disappointing Rock Hunter was well below form again in seventh, though perhaps on the slower part of the track while Ed Walker’s Mollie Foster found things happening far too quickly dropped to 1000m.

The other Listed race, the Prix Michel Houyvet over 3000m, lacked any British challengers but featured a horse I’ve written about a bit called Coetzee. He got stuck on the rail behind a wall of horses at Chantilly last time and punters were clearly expecting better here given he went off favourite but an inability to quicken instantly found him out again in a race where the finishing speed was just shy of 113%. The winner Columbus won comfortably enough from the front, admittedly, but Coetzee is crying out for a well-run race on soft ground and still looks one to bear in mind for a decent race as the year goes on.

Was Moore the logical choice for Inspiral?

Just three rides in Group company at Deauville for Kieran Shoemark in his career to date with his sole winner there coming in a handicap back in 2022 are statistics that no doubt made the decision by John and Thady Gosden to replace their stable jockey on Inspiral for this Sunday’s Prix Jacques le Marois a relatively easy one, though the choice of Ryan Moore as a replacement is a little odd given Clarehaven have only ever paired up with Moore in Group races at Deauville once before (Grande Dame last year, finished eighth in the Prix Rothschild) and none of the 17 rides he has had for them in Group races in Britain, Ireland or France this century have won.

Will it be 18th time lucky then? Well, the Gosdens have made this race their own in recent years winning the last four renewals with Palace Pier (twice) and Inspiral (twice) to add to the victory of Kingman in 2014, but while Inspiral came to Deauville on the back of sub-par displays in the Falmouth in 2022 and the Sussex in 2023, she’d shown high-class form earlier in each of those campaigns winning the Coronation in 2022 and finishing second in the Queen Anne in 2023.

This year, however, she’s achieved little of note in either of her two races and though she remains the one to beat on her best form she’s going to have to run somewhere close to that level looking at the opposition.

Similar comments can be made about Big Rock who posted a top-class performance over a straight mile last year when winning the Queen Elizabeth II at Ascot but like his stable-companion Blue Rose Cen has gone backwards alarmingly for a change of stable this year.

A much more solid proposition is Charyn who has taken his form to a new height this year when finishing well ahead of Big Rock (twice) and Inspiral and with France set for a heatwave over the weekend looks likely to get the fast ground on which he ran his best race yet in the Queen Anne at Ascot last time.

The unbeaten Quddwah adds plenty of spice to proceedings, having followed a win over Queen Anne second and third Docklands and Maljoom in a Listed race on the straight mile at Ascot with victory over the round mile there in the Summer Mile but he’s going to need to find another 5lb or 6lb improvement on his bare form to win this.

Dual Guineas placed Haatem and French 2000 Guineas winner Metropolitan provide a strong three-year-old challenge while another former French 2000 winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi can’t be ruled out either. A fascinating contest and just ten euros admission too for a card that also contains three other Group Three races as well as a Listed race!

Cowardofthecounty goes up in trip

Coventry seventh Cowardofthecounty, who beat Whistlejacket on his debut at the Curragh, finally gets the chance to run over 1400m in the opening Group Three Prix Francois Boutin in which Jack Channon’s Epsom winner Hot Cash looks an optimistic runner, but whether he’ll get the test of stamina he needs even up in trip in such a small field as this is open to question and the unbeaten home-trained front runner Houquetot looks to me to have form just as good.

The five-runner Prix Gontaut-Biron promises to be a messy race with no obvious pace. Last year’s Grand Prix de Paris winner Feed The Flame got back on track to a large extent ridden more forward than is often the case with Alexis Pouchin on board for the first time in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and he retains the ride but I’d prefer the chances of 2022 Arc fourth Al Hakeem who made a perfectly respectable comeback after 14 months off in La Coupe at ParisLongchamp in June.

Jessica Harrington sends over Comic Book for the Prix Minerve but the Bellewstown winner looks to have a mountain to climb. Mosaique had the reopposing Tzarovskha back in fourth when second behind French Oaks runner-up Survie in the Prix de Malleret last time and looks the form pick but I’m not sure we’ve seen the best of Gala Real yet who beat French Oaks fourth in the Prix de la Seine at ParisLongchamp in May but wasn’t able to repeat those come from behind tactics after a rough passage in the French Oaks.

The Listed Prix Nureyev has attracted a strong British challenge headed by Sons And Lovers who was third to Phantom Flight in a similar event at Newbury last time. That form is enough to give him a 5lb advantage on Timeform ratings as things stand, but Involvement went into many sectional notebooks after his win in a Newmarket handicap last time while the Godolphin-owned Ombudsman has won both his starts easily and has as much potential as any. War Rooms will appreciate the drop in class after contesting the Dante and King Edward VII on his last two starts but looks to have a bit to find.

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