ANDRE Fabre’s Cloth Of Stars got his season off to the perfect start by winning the Group 3 Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud last Sunday, the first group race of the year in Europe to be held on turf.

The son of Sea The Stars, who was well fancied before finishing eighth in the Derby at Epsom last season, was impressive and won despite having to concede weight to each of his eight rivals.

Held up early, he was angled out at the two-furlong marker where he made smooth progress for Mikael Barzalona and only needed to be pushed out to win from the Jean-Laurent Dubord-trained Star Victory.

Earlier on the card, Dark Angel, who stands at Yeomanstown Stud in Kildare, sired the winners of both listed races.

The Irish-bred Melesina led most of the way and stayed on well to win the Prix La Camargo for the raiding Richard Fahey. The three-year-old filly had won at Deauville in October last season so made it two wins from two starts in France on Sunday.

The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Markazi won the Prix Omnium II in good style for Christophe Soumillon. The Aga Khan-owned colt could well have bigger targets down the line this season.