POULE D’ESSAI DES

POULAINS – PRIX LE

PARISIEN (GROUP 1)

ANDRÉ Fabre trained the first two across the line in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains which went to Olivier Peslier and the mighty impressive Make Believe ahead of the champion jump jockey Vincent Cheminaud on New Bay.

Winning his second Poulains, the 42 year-old Olivier Peslier rode the race to perfection. From his good draw (4), Make Believe was smartly into his stride so the four times champion jockey decided to employ waiting in front tactics.

Peslier injected pace at the two-furlong marker and the race was over shortly afterwards. The pair crossed the line in a canter and three lengths clear of New Bay with the Pau-trained Mr Owen third in from of the supplementary entry, Karar.

The favourite Highland Reel and Ryan Moore were going nowhere from the furlong marker and finished sixth (beaten six lengths). Stablemate War Envoy was just a short neck behind having been rather keen early on.

Make Believe was odds on when making his racing debut at Deauville and was also a winner at Saint-Cloud last year. His only defeat came at the hands of the much fitter Ride Like The Wind (later ninth to Gleneagles in the 2000 Guineas) in the Group 3 Prix Djebel when just a head separated the two colts.

André Fabre was winning his sixth Poulains and he nearly ran Make Believe in the 2000 Guineas but finally supplemented Godolphin’s Territories into the English classic.

Ted Voute manages the string of winning owner Prince Faisal and commented: “It was a good decision not to run him at Newmarket. He adored the good ground and Olivier Peslier rode a beautiful race, accelerating at exactly the right time. The Prince is over the moon and he will decide with André Fabre the future programme. The colt is in the Jockey Club and has enough speed for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.”

Peslier added: “It’s not the first time he has made all the running. He was smartly out of the stalls and running a little free so I let him go on. After coming into the straight I thought it’s now or never. He changed legs and quickened away.” Make Believe was giving the 2000 Guineas winner Makfi his first classic success. The colt was bred at the Aston Mullins Stud in north Buckinghamshire, and purchased as a foal by Faisal for 180,000 guineas at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2012.

New Bay ran a cracker in the colours of Khalid Abdullah from his number 16 draw. The son of Dubawi (the sire of Makfi) made up a considerable among of ground from two out but without threatening the winner. “His bad drawer was a handicap but he accelerated really well in the straight. We’re hoping to run now in the Jockey Club,’’ reported racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe.

Aidan O’Brien said of Highland Reel: “Ryan Moore told me that all was going well in the early part of the race and then he felt a little rusty later on. He hasn’t raced for some time and maybe he’ll be better over a shorter distance.”