JEAN-Claude Rouget was delighted by the way Sheikh Hamdan’s Taareef accounted for Al Wukair in the Group 3 Prix Messidor at Maisons-Laffitte. The top-weight was not flat out to defeat the Qipco 2000 Guineas third by a comfortable two lengths with Attendu the same distance away third.

Taareef was one of the 50-odd horses placed in a quarantine barn after an outbreak of an equine virus at the Rouget stable and the delayed start to the 2017 season might have been a blessing in disguise.