Parislongchamp Saturday

12.58 Qatar Prix du Cadran (Group 1) (4yo+) 2m 4f.

There is no getting away from it. The 2025 Qatar Prix du Cadran will be one of the lowest quality Group 1 races staged in France for many a year. It is only thanks to the French supplementary entry system that we have been saved from having a three-runner renewal fought out by three off-colour British raiders, including two from the Andrew Balding yard. That trio were joined by five more, each stumping up a €21,600 late entry fee.

Apart from the old boys Coltrane and Tashkhan, who finished third in this race in 2024 and 2022 respectively but who were beaten by 15 lengths and 34 lengths on their last racecourse appearances, none of the eight are proven over this extreme distance of two miles and four furlongs. Just three members of the field arrive in Paris in any kind of form, and one of the trio, Sacred Spirit, surely won’t stay the trip.

Which leaves us with Caballo De Mar, from George Scott’s Newmarket yard, and Aidan O’Brien’s Queenstown. Marginal preference is for Caballo De Mar, as he has had 13 days to recover from his triumph in the Group 3 German St Leger as compared to the six days, which have elapsed since Queenstown was a slightly unlucky third in the Irish Cesarewitch.

SELECTION: CABALLO DE MAR

Next best: Queenstown

4.00 Qatar Prix de Royallieu (Group 1) (3yo+ Fillies & Mares) 1m 6f

The Aidan O’Brien pair of Bedtime Story and Island Hopping fly the flag for Ireland in a 12-runner renewal of the mile and six-furlong Group 1 Qatar Prix de Royallieu.

Island Hopping is likely to ensure a decent tempo, but is some way below this class, while it will be remarkable if Bedtime Story, who has achieved a pair of places at the top level this term, lasts out this trip given that she is a daughter of the dual Nunthorpe Stakes heroine, Mecca’s Angel.

The British have a strong hand, led by the first two home from the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes, Santorini Star and Consent, for a race that has not been successfully defended by the home team since it was upgraded in 2019.

I expect that trend to be broken here with two lightly-raced French fillies, Indalimos and Latakia, who thus far between them have a sum total of eight runs under their belts, fighting out the finish.

Indalimos is marginally preferred. Trained by Andre Fabre, she comfortably disposed of Consent when landing the Group 3 Prix Lady O’Reilly at Deauville in August and can just outstay Latakia, who landed the Group 2 Prix Alec Head on her latest.

SELECTION: INDALIMOS

Next best: Latakia

Rest of the card

Saturday’s undercard includes three Group 2 races, each one boasting €183,000 in total prize money, plus a 17-runner €260,000 Arqana sales race for juveniles over a mile, in which Aidan O’Brien saddles Isaac Newton and Emmet Mullins has declared blinkers for the first time on Winday as they strive to overcome the hot favourite, the Ralph Beckett-trained Cape Orator.

In the first two Group 2 events, Joseph O’Brien’s English Derby third and Irish Derby fourth Tennessee Stud should relish the step up to a mile and seven furlongs in the Qatar Prix Chaudenay, while Dreamliner can complete a four-timer for trainer Stephane Wattel in the Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein by getting the better of the Sussex Stakes winner, Qirat, who must shoulder a 4lb penalty, in a 10-runner contest which also features Joseph’s Group 3 Fairy Bridge Stakes scorer, Princess Child.

The best bet of the day, and probably the whole weekend, is saved for 4.35pm and a Group 2 Qatar Prix Dollar over a mile, a furlong and 165 yards, which has attracted a high-quality field of nine including four from Britain and Aidan O’Brien’s Swagman, who has run just once since annexing the Group 3 Classic Trial at Sandown in April.

The confident selection here is the John and Thady Gosden-trained Damysus, who last time out won the same Deauville listed contest as Ombudsman did 12 months previously and has the look of a colt who, like his dual subsequent Group 1-winning stablemate, could go on to much better things.