IT’S been the calm before the storm in France for the past few days, with everyone gearing for the Arc meeting at Chantilly, but there has been a brace of interesting Maisons-Laffitte fixtures featuring two Group 3s apiece, although Arc clues have been thin on the ground.

Mekhtaal still holds an Arc entry, but his prospects for that showpiece took a turn for the worse when he failed by a short-neck to hold off the late thrust of Sky Kingdom in last Saturday’s Prix du Prince d’Orange.

Wide-margin winner of the Group 2 Prix Hocquart back in May and a little unlucky when only fourth in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris a couple of months later, this Jean-Claude Rouget-trained son of Sea The Stars reverted to the front-running tactics that had served him so well in the Hocquart.

But he was unable to shake off the attentions of Sky Kingdom, an Irish-bred Montjeu colt trained in England by William Haggas, who was paying yet another compliment to his easy Prix Guillaume d’Ornano Stakes conqueror and subsequent Irish Champion Stakes winner, Almanzor.

Owned by his Australian breeder, Paul Makin, Sky Kingdom was trained as a two-year-old by John Oxx but never saw a racecourse.

He has huge scope for further improvement after only three career starts and was continuing a golden spell for Haggas, who has been enjoying a remarkable 40% strike-rate during the month of September.

SUCCESS STORY

The spotlight switched to the older horses 70 minutes later for La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte, again over a mile and a quarter but this time on the straight course.

The pillar-to-post victor here was Banzari, a remarkable success story for her owner, the Derry-born bloodstock agent, Stephen Hillen.

Last year Banzari, a daughter of Motivator, was struggling off marks in the high 80s in British handicaps when trained by Michael Bell.

Bought at Tattersalls in November for 24,000 guineas, she has since raced in the colours of Hillen’s wife Becky, and, having gained all-important blacktype when third in a listed race at Le Lion d’Angers in June, she went on to win a listed race and has now backed that up with a Group 3 victory, the first domestic pattern success for young trainer Henri-Francois Devin.

Although allowed an easy lead under Alexis Badel, this was a good performance as she still had a comfortable length and a half in hand over the impeccably-bred and well-regarded Dubawi filly Ame Bleue at the line.

Banzari holds an entry in the Arqana Arc sale, and Hillen will undoubtedly turn a tidy profit if he cashes in his chips there.

The alternative is a spot of globe-trotting, with the EP Taylor Stakes in Canada a possible destination.

AIM TO PLEASE

Much the pick of Wednesday’s two Maisons-Laffitte Group 3s was the Prix Bertrand de Tarragon, a nine-furlong event for fillies and mares.

There was a two-pronged British raid here from the Martyn Meade-trained Irish Rookie and Ed Walker’s Persona Grata, while punters favoured Chartreuse following her near misses in both the Prix Chloe and the Prix de Lieurey.

But these three had to content themselves with minor place prize money behind Aim To Please and Sayana. Trained by Francois Doumen, Aim To Please has had her season interrupted by treading on a stone but she was an unlucky-in-running third in the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham back in June and pulled a length and a half clear for a taking success.

The runner-up, a beautifully-bred Galileo half-sister to two top-class performers in Siyouni and Siyouma, has taken time to live up to her bloodlines but is worth keeping a close eye on in the future.

The six furlong Prix Eclipse for two-year-olds was not such a high-class affair but it did at least produce a terrific finish. It was expected to be dominated by the Queen Mary Stakes and Prix Robert Papin second, Al Johrah, but she dropped away late to finish fifth.

Instead it saw a three-way battle between Sans Equivoque, King Of Spades and Fas, with Sans Equivoque, a recent listed winner at Deauville trained by Didier Guillemin, prevailing by a pair heads. Runner-up King Of Spades holds down the level of the form, although he was sporting blinkers for the first time. He has a British handicap rating of just 76 and was making his first appearance for trainer Fabrice Vermeulen having been claimed for €30,000 after landing a claimer at Deauville three and a half weeks earlier when under the care of Mick Channon.