THE French challenge on Dubai World Cup night is mainly about Andre Fabre – the man recently crowned French champion trainer for a stupendous 28th time is responsible for four of the five Gallic raiders at Meydan’s annual showpiece.

All four ran at Chantilly on March 6th and the fact that three of them got beaten should not detract from their chances one jot, as the three races involved were little more than glorified gallops.

VERY LITTLE DOWNTIME

The Fabre quartet is headed by Talismanic, a son of Medaglia d’Oro who has had very little downtime this winter, given that he triumphed in the Breeders’ Cup in November and then went on to chase home Highland Reel in the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin the following month.

He is part of a less than vintage Dubai World Cup field and his trainer fully expects him to be in the shake-up. He is drawn seven in the 10-horse field.

The two big questions he has to answer are a) will he handle the dirt? and b) does he have the pace to cope with this drop back to a mile and a quarter given that eight months ago he was winning a Group 2 contest over a mile and three quarters?

Cloth Of Stars, runner-up to Talismanic on March 6th on his first outing since chasing home Enable in the Arc five months earlier, bids to give Fabre a second Dubai Sheema Classic victory 14 years after he lifted the trophy with Polish Summer.

The son of Sea The Stars must have a favourite’s chance from stall six of 10 and, remember, he came to hand early in both 2016 and 2017.

DARK HORSE

Trais Flours, named after a mountain ridge near St Moritz in Switzerland, is the dark horse of the Fabre contingent, and should represent a touch of value when he lines up for the Dubai Turf. Though the form book states that he is only a Group 3 winner who has been beaten on his last three starts, he is much better than that record suggests. He was drawn in stall four of 15.

Rosa Imperial

Fabre’s final Dubai hope is Rosa Imperial, a very lightly-raced mare who has made a late switch from turf sprinting to take part in the Godolphin Mile on dirt. Her outside draw may scupper any small chance she had.

There is little fresh to say about the other French visitor, the Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained Vazirabad, who is bidding for a hat-trick of victories in the Dubai Gold Cup.

This Manduro gelding was, just like last year, beaten into second in the main trial, the Nad Al Sheba Trophy, and is a tricky ride.

But if anyone can coax the best out of him it’s Christophe Soumillon, who will be his partner for the 18th straight time on Saturday.