THAT there were no real traffic problems during Sunday’s three pattern races was less down to the false rail and more to the prevailing heavy ground.

British raiders won two of the three and, like the tit-for-tat expulsion of Russian and British diplomats, the two countries are swapping big races trophies at present, as the Brits have won four of the first five group races of the French season while the French plundered three lucrative prizes at Lingfield on Good Friday and also landed the listed feature at Kempton last Saturday.

Two of those cross-Channel triumphs have been achieved by the mud-loving Air Pilot, who followed up his Prix Exbury success in Sunday’s Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt.

He actually began his career in France with Rupert Pritchard-Gordon but raced just once before suffering a serious leg injury.

Now with Ralph Beckett, he is nine years old but has very few miles on the clock having had that solitary start prior to the age of five. He proved a length and three-quarters too good for the rank outsider, Royal Julius, to take Christophe Soumillon’s record aboard the Zamindar gelding to a perfect three-from-three.

Martyn Meade, a coming force among British trainers, celebrated a first win since moving his yard from Newmarket to Manton over the winter when saddling Chilean to a length and a quarter victory in the Group 3 Prix La Force. But the horse to take out of this race may be the runner-up, Study Of Man, who received a sympathetic ride from Stephane Pasquier and hit the line very strongly – the Prix du Jockey-Club looks a realistic target for this Pascal Bary-trained Deep Impact colt.

The most impressive winner on the card was Barkaa, a daughter of Siyouni who gave his trainer, Fabrice Vermeulen, just the second group success of his career almost six years after the first when defeating Soustraction by four lengths in the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux.

Vermeulen said afterwards that Barkaa will now drop back a furlong in distance to contest the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) over a mile on May 13th, though by then she will no longer hold a fitness advantage – this was her fifth start since November whereas Soustraction had not raced for more than six months.

More clues for the Pouliches were on offer at Deauville on Monday where Coeur De Beaute showed the best turn of foot to beat Zonza by half a length in the Group 3 Prix Imprudence.

The first two, trained by Maurico Delcher and Didier Guillemin respectively, are both part-owned by Alain Jathiere and will meet again in that fillies’ classic.

However, if there was a true Group 1 filly in this field it is more likely to be third-placed Talbah, who ran on strongly from a hopeless position and was making a huge step up from a narrow maiden win on her debut.

The horse to really take the eye on Monday was Dice Roll, a five-length scorer in the Group 3 Prix Djebel in a 1.7 seconds quicker time than the Imprudence.

Trained by Fabrice Chappet, who broke into the top six in the French Trainers’ Championship last season, this Showcasing colt will either head for the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) or be supplemented for the English version.