IF Way To Paris overachieved in the Ganay, the performance of the three-year-old filly Tawkeel in romping to a five-length verdict in the €150,000 Saxon Warrior Coolmore Prix Saint Alary caught both Rouget and Demuro by surprise.

This mile-and-a-quarter contest for three-year-old fillies is often a cheap Group 1. Yet it was hard not to be impressed with the way the daughter of Teofilo stormed clear in the closing stages, though her winning margin and nearest pursuer would have been different if the favourite, Solsticia, had not showed wayward tendencies up the home straight, causing jockey Maxime Guyon to drop his whip and allowing Magic Attitude to cling on for second.

Rouget and the winning owner-breeder, Hamdan Al Maktoum, are particularly well stocked with middle-distance classic fillies this year: Tawkeel remains unbeaten after four starts, as does her stablemate Raabihah after two, the second being a wide-margin success in listed company.

Demuro reported: “Before the Alary I thought Raabihah was our best filly but Tawkeel’s acceleration took my breath away and now I’m not so sure.”

Rouget called her victory “very impressive” and revealed that, when he speaks to Sheikh Hamdan, the Prix de Diane and Epsom’s Oaks will be under consideration for both fillies, although the potential logistical difficulties of international travel during the Covid-19 pandemic will be taken into account before a plan is hatched.

After the 1000 Guineas, the next British fillies’ classic seemed to be at the mercy of Aidan O’Brien’s Love. That no longer looks such a sure thing.

Rouget has hinted that he regards Raabihah as a stronger stayer than Tawkeel, so maybe she could head to Epsom, which is also the aim for the brilliant Ribblesdale Stakes heroine, Frankly Darling. The anticipation is building.

San Huberto has the luck in Vicomtesse Vigier

DEAUVILLE handler Fabrice Chappet has had his string in great order since the return from lockdown but he hasn’t always enjoyed the best of fortune – troubled passages for his two placed fillies in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and San Fabrizio finishing stone last while still hard on the bridle in the Group 3 Prix de Guiche being the most obvious examples.

So he deserved a lucky win, and it duly arrived in the €90,000 Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier when San Huberto avoided all the trouble in behind and still had three-quarters of a length in hand from the fast-finishing Call The Wind when the full one-mile, seven-furlong race distance had been covered.

Olivier Peslier had nowhere to go aboard Call The Wind for much of the straight, while the 2019 winner, Called To The Bar, last seen when pulling up feelingly in Saudi Arabia in February, suffered his own traffic problems before overtaking five rivals in the last 200 yards to be beaten by little more than two lengths in fourth place. Chappet admitted: “San Huberto reaped the benefit of a good draw. He was able to sit in behind the leaders, and when there’s no pace that’s always an advantage.”