THE three races at Longchamp last Sunday that were truly-run enough to produce good overall times were (with estimated timefigures) the Prix Marcel Boussac, won by Ballydoyle (112), the Prix de l’Abbaye, won by Goldream (123), and the Prix de la Foret, won by Make Believe (125).

The Boussac was run in a time 1.83s quicker than the slowly-run Lagardere soon after it, and Ballydoyle looks good even after sectionals are factored in.

She has been a classic candidate for quite some time and rightly heads the betting for next year’s 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

The Lagardere, won by Ultra (85), looks suspect form, but runner-up Cymric - and to a slightly lesser degree sixth-placed Shogun and eighth-placed Attendu - did notably well to close from behind.

ABBAYE

The Abbaye resulted in a time less than half a second outside Habibti’s burn-up in 1983. The pace was strong and Goldream raced a couple of lengths off it, whereas sectionals show that third-placed Muthmir might have done a bit too much too soon.

The Foret is run over a distance short of the 1400 metres advertised, as indicated by implausibly fast opening sectionals over the years, and Limato could not quite get there having been well in rear, running the last 600 metres in around 33.0s. A high-class rematch between Make Believe and Limato would be a tough one to call.

Frankie Dettori’s ride on Golden Horn in the big race has been described in some quarters as one of the best of all time. Good though it undoubtedly was, it might not have been even the best of the weekend!

Covert Love (79) stole the slowly-run Prix de l’Opera from the front under a brilliant Pat Smullen ride, running the last 600 metres only eighth-fastest in the field but showing great willingness to hang on. We Are ran the sectional faster than any horse on the round course all weekend (32.54s) but was never nearer than third and can be considered unlucky.

Nearly as good was Thierry Thulliez on all-the-way winner Mille Et Mille in the Prix du Cadran, a slowly-run marathon in which six others ran faster than him late on but never got in a blow.