ParisLongchamp Sunday
3.25pm Prix Ganay (Group 1) €300,000. 1m 2f 110y
There are two Irish challengers, Joseph O’Brien’s Al Riffa and Higher Leaves, from the Henry de Bromhead yard, for tomorrow’s Prix Ganay, the first Group 1 event of the European flat season. And, despite a small field of six, this promises to be a fascinating contest.
Already twice successful at this level, Al Riffa made a promising (and highly lucrative) seasonal debut when third in a Group 2 in Saudi Arabia nine weeks ago.
With that run under his belt, he can be expected to fare better than he did when using this race as the launchpad to his 2024 campaign, finishing a close fourth, a nose in front of one of tomorrow’s opponents, Horizon Dore.
Higher Leaves is a crucial member of the line-up as she showed her best form at the end of last term once she adopted front-running tactics.
She should be allowed an easy lead and ensure an honest pace, but it is a bold shout to throw this Group 3-scorer straight into Group 1 company for the beginning of her four-year-old campaign and her Co Waterford handler will surely be delighted if she can hold on for a top three finish.
The two best pieces of form on offer (over this mile and two furlongs trip at least), are probably Al Riffa’s Eclipse Stakes second to City Of Troy and the Group 1 Champion Stakes third achieved by the sole British raider, Karl Burke’s Royal Rhyme, at Ascot last October. Royal Rhyme has gone well fresh in the past, so his lack of a recent outing should not be an issue.
Andre Fabre’s Sosie posted two exceptional Group 1 efforts last term, when winning the Grand Prix de Paris and finishing fourth in the Arc, but both of those were over a mile and a half and he may find things happening too quickly at this trip.
The one that they all have to beat, however, is the up-and-coming star Map Of Stars, trained by Francis Graffard.
This son of Sea The Stars and the Group 1 heroine, Bateel, has tasted defeat just once in six career outings and has begun this campaign with imperious victories in Group 3 and Group 2 events.
SELECTION: MAP OF STARS Next best: Royal Rhyme
On the Longchamp undercard, look out for two more offspring of Sea The Stars - the Wertheimer brother home-breds Aventure and Internaute.
Runner-up in the Arc, Aventure, trained by Christophe Ferland, goes in the mile and two furlongs Group 3 Prix Allez France, while Internaute, from the Christopher Head stable, steps up to a true staying distance for the first time when he tackles the mile and seven furlongs of the Group 3 Prix de Barbeville.