CHANTILLY SUNDAY

2.45 ALLEZ FRANCE (GROUP 3) 1M 2F

John Gosden saddles The Black Princess (Frankie Dettori) in the Allez France and she won a listed contest at Saint-Cloud when last crossing the Channel almost exactly six months ago. This French-bred filly qualifies for generous owners’ premiums.

The secret to this Group 3 race could be the Listed Prix Zarkava at Saint-Cloud earlier in the month. It went by a neck to That Which Is Not from Armande and Thank You Bye Bye. Nearly brought down when losing her rider in the Prix de Diane Longines, Armande could gain revenge and the quartet of German fillies in the race should take some of the spoils home.

Selection: ARMANDE

Next best: That Which Is Not

3.30 PRIX DE BARBEVILLE (GROUP 3) 1M 7F

Some useful stayers have won the 15-furlong Barbeville and they include Dunaden and Westerner. Hughie Morrison has sent over Marmelo for the race and booked Christophe Soumillon for the ride. His last three runs in 2016 were in France and was placed on each occasion including a third in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay.

The lightly raced Travelling Man is the most interesting runner in the Barbeville. The gelding did not start his career until last July and was unbeaten going into this season when he ran third to the smart Tiberian in a listed race at Saint-Cloud. This longer distance should suit.

Now We Can is a most consistent performer and rarely out of the first four although he was at Doha in February.

Trained at Pau by Francois Rohaut for Sheikh Hamdan, Murafej was the very easy winner of a handicap on the polytrack at Chantilly in March.

Selection: TRAVELLING MAN

Next best: Marmelo

SAINT-CLOUD MONDAY

2.25 PRIX DU MUGUET (GROUP 2) 1M

The same comment could also apply to the one-mile Prix du Muguet (lily of the valley which the French give to each other on May 1st as a symbol of good luck). Usherette is one of the interesting runners. Her best performances last year came in England where she won the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket before the Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot. Made favourite for the Tattersalls 250th year Falmouth Stakes, she ran way below her best and was sixth to Alice Springs.

She is under the care of Fabre as is Jimmy Two Times. He made mincemeat of 10 others when making a winning start to the season in the Prix Edmond Blanc over the course and distance earlier in the month where Attendu finished third.

Godolphin’s third runner Toscanini moved to Fahey’s yard at the end of last year. Trying the distance for the first time, the gelding ran a decent fourth in the Doncaster Mile this month.

The German filly Spectre is brave. She won the Prix Imprudence a year ago and then raced in Group 1 company with distinction with places in the Jean Prat, Jacques Le Marois and Moulin de Longchamp at Chantilly.

Karar’s best performance came when chasing Limato home in the Prix de la Foret.

Selection: USHERETTE

Next best: Jimmy Two Times

3.00 PRIX GANAY (GROUP 1) 1M 2F 110Y

The Prix Ganay has attracted eight runners including the Charlie Appleby-trained Hawkbill and two smart performers from Germany. André Fabre will have a leading chance of landing the Ganay with the super-fit Cloth Of Stars. The colt is unbeaten is two races this year having won the Prix Exbury before the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt and he should again hold the other Fabre trained runner, Maniaco.

Another fit individual will be the Aga Khan’s Zarak. He was runner-up to Almanzor in last June’s Prix du Jockey Club and later beaten by the German visitor Potemkin in the Qatar Prix Dollar. Alain de Royer-Dupré has campaigned Zarak at Meydan this year and the colt won a Group 3 event before a fourth in the Dubai Turf race.

Three of the top horses in the Ganay will be making their seasonal reappearances: Erupt, Hawkbill and Silverwave, who were all Group 1 winners in 2016.

Silverwave beat Erupt fairly and squarely in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud before accounting for three others in the Prix Foy and a 13th place in the Arc de Triomphe.

Winner of the 2015 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris, the Niarchos family’s Erupt took the Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International at Woodbine and ended the year after an unsuccessful trip to Hong Kong.

Hawkbill won the Coral Eclipse Stakes over this distance and finished 2016 with a third to Guignol in a Group 1 race at Munich - they clash again on this occasion.

All in all, the Ganay looks open and a reasonable chance can be made out for all the eight runners.

Selection: ZARAK

Next best: Cloth Of Stars