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Prix Pelleas

3YO Listed Race - 2,000m - €25,150

Thursday 16th July 2026 - 5:23 pm (UK Time)

This €50,300 Listed contest may not have the glamour of the Grand Prix de Paris on Tuesday evening, but in its own way it is an intriguing race for the 3-year-olds. Not least because we have some British interest with the Ed Bethell trained Haayimm being ridden by Christophe Soumillon for Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum. He will be the first runner for Ed Bethell in France since Crown’s Lady finished 4th on the All-Weather in a Listed race back in September. At present, Bethell is 0 from 27 with his runners in France according to France Galop, but this does look like a decent spot for the son of Gleneagles, who has an official BHA rating of 97 after a battling success in handicap company at Hamilton last month. On the bare figures that would leave him with a bit to find with some of his rivals, but he is an improving sort and if the race were to be run at a steady pace, I think it might suit.

The pair of Czech trained runners would be shock winners based on my interpretation of the form. Qantas french form hasn’t really worked out and he struggled in Italy last time, whilst Iceni Boy ran well without looking a threat behind the likes of Daryzan and Gazi last time out. So that then brings me to the French form. Gentlemanlike was an impressive debut winner for Igor Endaltsev last Summer and as is that trainers way, he was quickly sold after a promising debut run. He picked up a Class 2 race at Angers in November and returned to winning ways when getting the better of the re-opposing Wiki at Lyon Parilly last time. That was a small field Class 1 race and it became very tactical, but despite leaning to his right in the home straight, Francis-Henri Graffard’s 3-year-old was comfortably on top in the closing stages and I really couldn’t see any reason to think the form would be reversed. Wiki is the obvious pace angle from stall 1, but the drop in class didn’t help his cause last time and it seems unlikely that he will be able to repel this kind of opposition without a very cute ride from Enzo Corallo. I wouldn’t necessarily call him a pacemaker, but the presence of Proof in the Wertheimer silks does raise a slight question for me about how the pair will be ridden.

Proof remains a maiden after 4 starts, but he was easily the best of these as a juvenile. His 3rd placed finish behind Pierre Bonnard in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud is a very solid piece of form in the context of this race and on pedigree alone, he should make up into a better 3-year-old. Christopher Head has a healthy strike rate of 16% at the track and Pierre Charles Boudot rode a winner on his only previous ride for the yard and he rides the northern track at a 21% strike rate. It all points to a good run from Proof, but the big question to answer in this race is will he be fit enough to run to form? The ground wouldn’t be a concern given that he ran on a similar surface when the penetrometer recorded a figure of 3,4 for his debut at Deauville in August, but this 2,000m trip is surely going to be a bare minimum for him as a 3-year-old. At the weights, he has at least 3.5 kilos in hand on the field and I do think he will probably prove to be the best horse in this contest when we come to assess the form at the end of the year. If his price were to hold at 2/1 or better, then I think that would make him a bet because he is a proven Group 1 performer running in a Listed race and we know enough about his 5 rivals to suggest that this is their level. If he is in need of the run, then Gentlemanlike seems the best placed to take advantage of that scenario and whilst I don’t think he is a Group 1 horse necessarily, he is at least still improving.