IF Way To Paris overachieved in the Ganay, the performance of the three-year-old filly Tawkeel in romping to a five-length verdict in the €150,000 Saxon Warrior Coolmore Prix Saint Alary caught both Rouget and Demuro by surprise.

This mile-and-a-quarter contest for three-year-old fillies is often a cheap Group 1. Yet it was hard not to be impressed with the way the daughter of Teofilo stormed clear in the closing stages, though her winning margin and nearest pursuer would have been different if the favourite, Solsticia, had not showed wayward tendencies up the home straight, causing jockey Maxime Guyon to drop his whip and allowing Magic Attitude to cling on for second.