Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1)

IT was an Arc Trials Day with a difference at Longchamp last Sunday. A week earlier than in previous years, this time the prep races for the October 5th showpiece played second fiddle to a competitive 12-runner renewal of the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, which ended up further muddying the waters of a confusing campaign for Europe’s top milers.

Just a length covered the first four home, and the main talking points were the inspired supplementary entry of the 16/1 winner, Sahlan, and yet another near-miss for the unluckiest horse of the season, Rosallion.

Sahlan’s triumph meant that 15 Group 1 mile races contested in Europe so far this year have been won by 14 different horses - only the brilliant Irish 2000 Guineas hero Field Of Gold had managed more than a solitary top-level success.

Admittedly, the picture in the miling division is clearer than the sprint section (where, remarkably, no horse has won more than one Group 1 or Group 2 prize this season). Yet, should Rosallion, with four Group 1 places including three narrow second places to his name, go on to beat Field Of Gold in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, you could make a good case for him being crowned Champion Miler.

Might have been

Which will come as no consolation to his trainer, Richard Hannon, whose guttedness after a third ‘what might have been’ defeat must mean that his torso is utterly empty.

On ground which was considerably quicker than the official ‘good to soft’, Andre Fabre’s Alcantor tried to pull off the same trick that his former stablemate, Tribalist, had 12 months earlier by building up an insurmountable advantage prior to the home turn.

He made a pretty good fist of it, eking out a lead of four lengths on all except the pacemaker, Serengeti, passing the two and a half furlong marker. But he was joined by both the prominent-racing The Lion In Winter and the slightly more patiently-ridden Sahlan passing the 100-metre marker.

The last to challenge was Rosallion who, like in the City Of York Stakes, had to overcome a wide draw, so jockey Sean Levey had little option but to ride a waiting race.

Only two lengths behind Sahlan with a furlong and a half to run, he just took what proved to be a moment too long to engage top gear once and, storming down the outside, was still a short head adrift at the line.

Well suited by racing close to the pace, The Lion In Winter bounced back from his Prix Jacques le Marois debacle and outran to take third, only a neck behind the front pair.

Alcantor was half a length further back in fourth with The Lion In Winter’s much-better-fancied fellow Aidan O’Brien representative Henri Matisse another length and a quarter adrift in fifth.

Just 20 minutes after Goliath had collected his yard’s eighth Group 1 victory of the season at Baden-Baden, Francis Graffard was notching another one here and afterwards was quick to thank owner Sheikh Joaan Al Thani of Al Shaqab Racing for stumping up Sahlan’s €57,600 late entry fee for this €457,120-to-the-winner event.

Convinced

“It was a big decision to supplement,” Graffard said. “If he had finished in the first five, I would have been happy but I was convinced that I could win a Group 1 with him eventually, though maybe not this year.

“He needs good ground, so there wasn’t much else for him. If I had told you a month ago [when Sahlan had managed nothing more that a second in a Group 3] that he would win the Moulin you would have thought I was crazy, but now we can consider the Breeders’ Cup Mile.”

A deeply frustrated Hannon said: “It’s extremely disappointing and very hard to take. Rosallion is so tough, he’s the best horse in the race and nobody did anything wrong.

“In fact, he hasn’t really been beaten, has he? He’ll end up winning another one [Group 1], everyone agrees on that.”

Qatar Prix Vermeille (Group 1)

MOVING on to the Arc Trials and the obvious place to start is the Group 1 Qatar Prix Vermeille, which witnessed a deeply impressive performance from Aventure and a deeply disappointing one from the O’Brien-trained 1/2 favourite, Whirl.

Kept wide of her five opponents in the early stages and racing prominently before taking over the lead from Survie with the best part of a mile left to run, Whirl was a spent force as soon as she was headed approaching the furlong pole and was allowed to coast home in last place by jockey Christophe Soumillon.

O’Brien was absent at the yearling sales in Kentucky and Soumillon, deputising for the injured Ryan Moore, did not try to explain Whirl’s dismal effort, simply commenting: “It’s the first time that I’ve sat on her and she ran very flat.”

By contrast, everything went exactly to plan for Aventure, who had finished runner-up to Bluestocking in this race 12 months earlier before those two fillies filled exactly the same positions in the Arc.

Smooth progress

Absent since landing two minor pattern events at the start of the season and then chasing home Calandagan in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, the daughter of Sea The Stars made smooth progress from fourth place to sweep past Survie and cross the line a length and a half in front of Graffard’s Prix de Diane victrix, Gezora, with the O’Brien second string, Bedtime Story, a length and three-quarters back in third.

Christophe Ferland, Aventure’s trainer, was a relieved man afterwards, saying: “I was very wound up beforehand because her winning a first Group 1 was very important and it was me who made the decision to miss the Prix Jean Romanet and come straight here. Now it’s mission accomplished and I can be a bit calmer in the build-up to the Arc.

“It was good ground today, so if that’s what we get for the Arc it will be fine, and if it’s heavy by then, that will be even better.”

He went on to suggest that Aventure would improve for the run. Yet the fact that Ferland was so nervous and a Group 1 win was a big omission on her CV makes me wonder if Aventure was more wound up for this than Ferland was letting on, and it would be no surprise if she comes on for the run less than some other Arc contenders, Gerzora included.