Grand Prix de Paris (Group 1)

IT has become a glorious summer for Irish invaders in France.

When Laws Of Indices and Thunder Moon landed an Irish one-two in last Sunday’s Group 1 Haras d’Etreham Prix Jean Prat it was the fourth consecutive Gallic Group 1 contest to have been successfully plundered by raiders from the Emerald Isle.

And even when, three days later, the best Aidan O’Brien’s three-strong contingent in the Grand Prix de Paris could manage was second place, the result was still a confirmation of the quality of Irish racing as the first two home, Hurricane Lane and Wordsworth, had previously finished first and third in the Irish Derby.

Star

With apologies to trainer Ken Condon and the rest of the Laws Of Indices team, the star of the week was undoubtedly Hurricane Lane. For the Godolphin colt’s last-gasp Curragh triumph had come just 18 days before this ParisLongchamp assignment and any normal horse could have been forgiven for needing a while to recover from that hard-fought classic victory.

Not a bit of it. The son of Frankel had showed such joie de vivre in the intervening period at trainer Charlie Appleby’s Newmarket base that thoughts of a short holiday were shelved in favour of a supplementary entry for this, the last chance for three-year-olds to face up against each other at Group 1 level over a mile and a half without the added complication of older horse involvement.

Following 45mm of rain that stopped around 12 hours before the Bastille Day evening start time of the Grand Prix, Hurricane Lane encountered somewhat softer conditions here than he did in Ireland – and a little more testing than the officially ‘good to soft’ surface he had finished third upon in the Derby at Epsom.

Such was his superiority, it is hard to believe that anything other than extreme going or extreme misfortune would have changed the result.

Admittedly, he had the perfect position throughout, coasting along as one of the Ballydoyle trio, The Mediterranean, set just a steady gallop and was allowed to establish a three-length lead.

Extended lead

Yet, having hit the front early in the home straight, the way he remorselessly extended his advantage over the final quarter mile – its size was never greater than the six lengths recorded at the winning post – brooked no argument.

Wordsworth took until the 100-metre marker to get past his stablemate, The Mediterranean, into second but did at least finish a length and a quarter closer to the winner than he had in the Irish Derby.

Given he was granted such an easy time of things in front, it was no surprise that The Mediterranean outran his 53/1 starting price, and he so nearly reversed placings with his King Edward VII Stakes conqueror, Alenquer.

That William Haggas-trained adversary was the worst affected by the lack of a solid gallop here, his outside draw forcing jockey James Doyle to restrain him leaving the stalls and switch across to the rail in last place.

It took Alenquer the length of the straight to get past his old rival and he can probably be considered the second best horse in the race. Wordsworth only finished a length and a quarter ahead despite having enjoyed considerably better track position.

So British and Irish visitors filled the first four places – of the raiding party only O’Brien’s Sir Lamorak disappointed, racing in the final pair throughout and trailing home almost 25 lengths behind the winner.

Improved again

“It was more straightforward than in Ireland,” said winning rider William Buick. “We were better placed and the ground was a bit easier for him.

“But he does seem to be getting quicker and you have to think that he’s improved again. In Ireland he showed a turn of foot and he’s really picked up again today and put it to bed really quick.

“He’s just a very good horse who is still improving. Credit has to go to Charlie and the whole team back home because he had a hard race in Ireland yet they were adamant that he was ready to run again this evening and they have been proved right.”

Having watched the race at home, Appleby himself said: “That has franked him as one of the best three-year-olds in Europe and he’s an exciting horse. You’d have to be thinking about him as a serious Arc contender now.”

Babylone looks a

serious prospect

THE other two pattern races on Wednesday evening were a pair of €130,000 Group 2 contests – the Prix de Malleret, the Grand Prix’s sister race for three-year-old fillies, and the Prix Radio FG (Prix Maurice de Nieuil), a one-mile, six-furlong event for older stayers.

The Malleret was run almost three-quarters of a second faster than the Grand Prix 35 minutes later and threw up an intriguing winner in the Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Babylone, the biggest success to date for her owner-breeders, Haras Voltaire, the racing banner of the upmarket clothing brand, Zadig & Voltaire.

A daughter of the Irish National Stud stallion Invincible Spirit, and a granddaughter of the 2003 Prix Marcel Boussac winner, Denebola, Babylone is lightly raced having been absent for almost eight months after breaking her maiden last autumn.

Given that she had to overcome a troubled passage to beat Adhafera by a neck, she looks a serious prospect for the top end-of-season fillies’ races.

The Maurice de Nieuil saw the finishing positions reversed between the one-two from the Prix Vicomtesse Vigier (run over an extra furlong and a half in May) as Alain de Royer-Dupré’s Valia took advantage of a 5lb pull at the weights to get up right on the line to beat Skazino by a head.