WALDGEIST, in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, and Shaman, in the St James’s Palace Stakes, are the two best bets among the French raiding party for next week’s Royal Ascot jamboree.

Trained by André Fabre, Waldgeist put up a career-best display at the age of five and seemed to relish the drop back to a mile and a quarter when storming home almost five lengths clear in the Group 1 Prix Ganay.