Prix de Croissy - Daryz

Daryz made it 2 wins from 2 starts in Wednesday’s opening race. A Sea the Stars Colt out of the G1 winner Daryakana, he is yet another promising 3-year-old for Francis-Henri Graffard and the Aga Khan Stud. His Dam won the 2009 Hong Kong Vase for Alain De Royer-Dupre, so it is no surprise to see that he is capable of winning a Class 2 event over 2,000m. This proved to be a relatively simple task for Mickael Barzalona, who sat his mount on the quarters of the early leader which gave him a smooth passage into the closing stages. He came home in closing furlongs of 10.97 and 11.52s at a top speed of 65.8 km/h. This was a step forward from his maiden win at Paris Longchamp in October, but was he a fortunate winner? Absolutely.

Oracle was sent off at 1.5 PMU for this race, probably aided by Maxime Guyon’s pre-race comments where he seemed to exude confidence that his mount would win. He had won at Saint-Cloud on debut and shaped like a horse with much more to come, but unfortunately, Guyon got his fractions and in particular his track position, all wrong. Sat behind the leader, he was boxed in by Barzalona on Daryz and was forced to switch around the tiring leader. That cost him 3-lengths and although he finished in the fastest final furlong of 11.47s at a top speed of 62.8 km/h, the chance had gone. Were they to meet again and Oracle had a clear run, I think we can be fairly certain that the form would be reversed.

There isn’t too much to be gleaned from the other runners. Mondo looks to have found his level and despite having the run of the race in front, Batal Youmzain didn’t appear to improve for the step up to 2,000m. He seems unlikely to take up either entry in the Prix du Jockey Club or the Grand Prix de Paris at this point. The major disappointment was Nesthorn, who looks like a shadow of the horse who showed so much promise as a 2-year-old. He faded tamely and hung his head to the side when asked for an effort, ultimately beaten over 10-lengths. It would seem likely that he hasn’t trained on at this stage.