3.05pm Qatar Prix du Jockey Club (Group 1) 1m 2f 110yd
The betting market for tomorrow’s 189th running of the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club is dominated by horses that filled positions three to six in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains.
They are led by Aidan O’Brien’s number one candidate, Camille Pissarro, who took the minor place berth in that classic, just over a length behind his stablemate, Henri Matisse.
Now, over an extra two and a half furlongs and at Chantilly rather than Longchamp, Camille Pissarro renews rivalry with Luther, Ridari and Detain, three horses who finished right on his tail in the Poulains. How will the longer distance suit each member of the quartet? And did Camille Pissarro even deserve to finish third, given that Ridari was snatched up in the dying strides when still fighting for that position?
The pedigree clues about likely stamina are far from incontrovertible. Wootton Bassett, the stallion responsible for both Camille Pissarro and Detain, can be an influence for stamina, while Frankel, who sired Luther, regularly gets stayers, but it is Ridari, who is a half-brother to three individuals who all scored at a mile and two furlongs and beyond, and is out of the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera winner, Ridasiyna, who most convinces as a colt who will progress for this first attempt at middle distances.
On the negative side, Camille Pissarro’s best sibling was the Group 1-winning sprinter Golden Horde, albeit he was by the very fast Lethal Force. And his draw, in stall one, puts Ryan Moore in danger of getting trapped on the inside on a horse that cannot hit the front too soon.
Too difficult
My suspicion is that, granted a little more luck-in-running, Ridari may prove to be just about the best of them. But, given how closely bunched they were in the Poulains, and all the uncertainty surrounding their suitability to tomorrow’s trip, perhaps it is best to file the conundrum of who will make the most improvement in the ‘too difficult’ category and look elsewhere for the most likely Jockey Club hero.
O’Brien’s second string, Trinity College, does not look good enough, while Bowmark has been beaten in his only previous stakes race outing and ranks some way below the other John and Thady Gosden representative, Detain.
Richard Hannon’s King Of Cities, the last of six overseas contenders, will also be making his pattern race debut here and needs to take a giant leap forward on what he has achieved to date.
Which leads us to the pick of the rest of the home contingent, outside Ridari. Or, more specifically, to a trio of Andre Fabre-trained hopefuls.
Shortest of these in the betting is the Godolphin-bred Lope De Vega colt Cualificar, but I am sceptical about what he has achieved in landing a pair of Group 3 contests over a mile and a furlong.
Fabre also saddles two for the Wertheimer brothers: Nitoi, who won the same listed race that Ace Impact and Sottsass used as a springboard to Jockey Club success, and the once-raced Sinileo.
Nitoi has been encumbered with the coffin draw on the wide outside, but Sinileo has fared much better in that department (in stall 4) and looks worthy of very close attention.
For 79-year-old Fabre, who has won this race on four occasions, to supplement a colt who will therefore be back in action just 16 days after he made a winning racecourse debut strikes me as highly significant.
Fabre does not like to rush things, so why stump up the cash of an owner who already had a legitimate prospect when alternative targets abounded?
A Siyouni half-brother to three group performers who all stayed this trip, Sinileo should relish this move up from a mile and, having looked very professional when making all the running on his only start, he can overcome his inexperience to outgun his 17 much more battle-hardened opponents.
SELECTION: SINILEO Next Best: Ridari
Rest of the Card
The Chantilly undercard boasts a pair of Group 2 events. In the four-runner mile and a half Grand Prix de Chantilly, Ace Impact’s half-brother, Arrow Eagle, can confirm his Prix d’Hedouville superiority over Sibayan and the reigning champion, Junko. And, in the mile Prix de Sandringham for three-year-old fillies, it might be worth taking a chance on Philippe Sogorb’s Eponine against a few who had their wings clipped when down the field in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.
The other highlight will be the reappearance of the James Fanshawe-trained Kind Of Blue, last season’s Champions Sprint Stakes winner and Haydock Sprint Cup runner-up, as he drops back to five furlongs in the Group 3 Prix du Gros-Chene, while Andrew Balding’s Secret Of Love would give a boost to the Oaks chances of her Chester conqueror, Minnie Hauk, if she were to overcome her seven domestically-trained opponents in the mile and a half Group 3 Prix de Royaumont.