HIS team, Atletico Madrid, may have made a stuttering start to their La Liga campaign in Spain but the World Cup-winning French striker, Antoine Griezmann, had plenty to shout about after Tornibush, the Irish-bred Dream Ahead colt he part-owns, landed the Group 3 Qatar Prix du Pin.

Running over a seven-furlong course that often favours those that race prominently, Tornibush was alongside the pace-setting Zalamea at the halfway stage and, having finally disposed of that rival inside the final furlong, had enough in hand to hold off the fast-finishing pair of Spaday and Inns Of Court by half a length and a neck.

Tornibush would have been completing a six-timer but for his ill fortune in a Group 2 event at Baden-Baden just 16 days previously, when he was virtually put through the inside running rail and finished little more than two lengths behind the winner despite being allowed to coast through the last 200 yards.

This was a first pattern victory in seven years of trying for Philippe Decouz, who trains a 40-strong string at Chazey-Sur-Ain, close to the Swiss border between Lyon and Geneva.

“You can put a line through his German form, it was as if he hadn’t even run,” Decouz said.

“Thankfully he still had this entry and now we have the enormous satisfaction of winning a group race.

“Antoine followed the race and got very excited. I messaged him beforehand and now must ring him back to give him a full debrief. The Prix de la Foret could be next.”