The going at Chantilly this afternoon is reported as Good but the French definition does not match ours and given the amount of rain that they have had, it looks like Roaring Lion would have been up against it in the Prix Du Jockey Club.
The British bookies clearly favour the foreign raiders in some of the support card. I could not be having Altyn Orda in the Prix Sandringham (1:30) as she has never won on going easier than (British) Good. A Momentofmadness goes from a Chester handicap to the Group 2 Prix Du Gros Chêne and is just 6/1, although the home team do not look Group 2 standard either.
In the Grand Prix du Chantilly, the centre of attention will be Waldgeist but he may have most to fear from last year’s Prix Foy winner Dschingis Secret, visiting from Germany once more, rather than Charlie Appleby’s Rare Rhythm dropping down in trip.
Quite a few recent runnings of the Prix Du Jockey Club have turned out to be messy but the favourite, Poulains winner Olmedo, has obvious claims for Jean Claude Rouget. I wonder if the Japanese will be tuning in to watch son of Deep Impact Study Of Man? He won a four runner Prix Greffulhe but this will be only his third start. It will also be Key Victory’s third start after winning the Newmarket Stakes. Ballydoyle have just the four here, two of which (Hunting Horn and Flag Of Honour) come from the Chester Vase that yielded the Derby runner-up. However, Ryan Moore is on ROSTROPOVICH, convincing winner of the Dee Stakes; and I think the Frankel colt can gain compensation for Coolmore for yesterday’s reverse. That is assuming that Ryan can avoid the inevitable traffic trouble today...
