Paris Longchamp 15th May

It was a very strange afternoon at Vichy on Wednesday. Imperial Me Cen bounced right back to form to win the Listed 2-year-old contest. He is probably the best 2-year-old that we have seen so far this season, though the opening race on Fridays card at Chantilly has the potential to challenge that theory. My selection, Golden Breeze, did far too much in the early stages and running 69.7 km/h in the 2nd furlong was a recipe for disaster, but if she goes around a bend she may yet be a filly to keep on side. Fast forward half an hour and it was much better news as Dark Summit (15/8 SP) got the perfect ride from Maxime Guyon to win by a length in the 3-year-old maiden. The meeting was abandoned due to unsafe ground shortly afterwards, so we will have to wait to see if my 3rd selection, Viento de Levante, is as well handicapped as I think he is. That’s the review over with, now we move on to Paris Longchamp.

This card may not have the glamour of the Poulains and Pouliches card last weekend, but we do have some interesting 3-year-old races, most notably the Listed Prix de Pontarme.

We begin with a debutantes race and whilst there are risks attached to races like this, namely that you never know what you might bump into, the percentage call is still to stick with Francis-Henri Graffard. Velikaya is a Frankel Colt out of the Pouliches runner-up Veda. She is a daughter of a G3 winner and produced the G1 placed filly Valia. Everything on paper would suggest that this is a smart Colt and his page stands out in this lineup. Given the numerous winning 3-year-old debutantes that the yard has sent out so far this season, he is hard to ignore and worth chancing in what looks to be a relatively shallow maiden.

That maiden is followed by a Class 2 contest for the 3-year-olds over a mile. Plenty of these have won maiden races. Jokla, Honeyflower, Haarlem and Motu all have form credentials, but it is very hard to get away from Shiribetsu. I’m starting to sound like a Graffard “fan boy” at this point, but she was so impressive when winning on debut at Saint-Cloud. A supplementary entry for that maiden, she was last turning in, but closed easily under Mickael Barzalona to win under a hands ride, running the fastest individual split for each of the last 3-furlongs, closing in 36.42s. Well drawn in stall 2, she should get into a prominent position and showed more than enough speed on debut to think she could win a race like this.

The Listed Prix de Pontarme is the feature race at 6:33. Diego Ventura is a fascinating runner from the Al Jehani yard in Newmarket. He was no match for Cosmic Year last time out, but this is definitely an easier assignment and Christophe Soumillon is a notable booking. He might prove too good, but the early morning prices in a messy race made no appeal to me. Afogado finished in front of Epson Blue Cen last time, but there is a strong case for that form being reversed and the value play may well be to back the Devin trained filly to make all the running. She broke well from the stalls in the Prix du Pont Neuf, taking 23.43s to reach the 2nd furlong pole, but paid for that early speed in the closing stages. Both Afogado and the winner, Burhan, were settled in the rear and picked up the pieces in a race with a finishing speed of 103%. That was her first start since October and she should strip much fitter here.  If she breaks well again from the stalls, she could lead them down the hill and is a value bet to lead all the way to the line.