THE two big three-year-old trial races on the d’Harcourt undercard were underwhelming affairs, especially the colts version, the Group 3 Prix La Force, where they managed to go so slowly over the nine-furlong trip that the winner would have been beaten by 27 lengths in the fillies equivalent, the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux.

Not that trainers Etienne and Gregoire Leenders will care a jot, for it was their charge, Mister Saint Paul, who took advantage of the slow tempo to make almost all of the running, overturning recent Prix Omnium placings with both the short-head runner-up, Dreamflight, and the third, Valmer Magic.