THE flat racing at Longchamp last Sunday had neither Craon’s crowd nor its excitement but it did feature three interesting Group 3 contests.

All resulted in close finishes, the most clear-cut winner being Criquette Head’s young Mizzen Mast colt, Full Mast, who beat Nucifera and Territories by three-quarters of a length and half a length in the Prix La Rochette, a seven furlong juvenile contest.

Now unbeaten in two starts and from the family of Warning, Full Mast is a good prospect but this victory owed plenty to a fine front-running ride from Thierry Thulliez.

Both the second and third raced keenly a little way off the slow pace in the early stages and there is every chance that the placings would be shuffled should the trio meet again.

Over the same distance, the Prix du Pin was run at a scorching gallop and resulted in a time over five seconds quicker than the Rochette.

Again the result was partly due to a good performance in the saddle from a man named ‘Thierry’, although this time it was Thierry Jarnet, who is showing no signs of losing his touch at the age of 47.

Blue Soave, winner of this race in 2012, was soon bombing along at the head of affairs and maintained a clear lead approaching the final furlong.

He was then hunted down by both Another Party and American Devil. But shortly after that pair had swept past, Jarnet arrived on the scene aboard Bamiyan and his perfectly-timed challenge was rewarded with a half-length triumph.

Homebred by Henri de la Chauvelais, who owned and bred both his dam and his granddam, and trained down in the south west by Thierry Lemer, Bamiyan had finished around two lengths behind American Devil in two previous 2014 meetings over this course and distance.

The disappointment of the race was the three-year-old, Noozhoh Canarias. Running for the first time since moving from Spain to join the string of Carlos Laffon-Parias, he raced in second for a long way only to weaken into eighth.

Six more three-year-olds contested the Prix de Lutece over a mile and seven furlongs. This witnessed a good final furlong battle between Auvray and Glaring with Elie Lellouche’s Auvray, who had not made the frame in two previous pattern race attempts, prevailing by half a length.