QATAR PRIX DU MOULIN DE LONGCHAMP

I have never been a fan of using pacemakers and I’d much rather every horse just ran on their merits and if the pace is too sedate, then it is up to the jockey to do something about it. I find it even more bizarre when the pacemaker sets early fractions that actually hinder the chances of their stablemate and I think that is exactly what happened in Sunday’s Prix du Moulin. Dorset wasn’t there to run on his merits, he was there to set the race up for Gstaad and presumably to disrupt Opera Ballo’s rhythm on the front end. He certainly did that as the pair of them came flying down the hill at Paris Longchamp, covering the opening half a mile in a rather suicidal 48.41s (Source: McLloyd). Opera Ballo was certainly lit up by the presence of Dorset on his inside and having done his best to hold him back, William Buick was left with little choice but to commit him for home as they came into the straight. I don’t think he lost a great deal in defeat, but it did expose a weakness in him. Opera Ballo has always been a relatively keen going horse and the downhill nature of the track in Paris clearly didn’t help him to settle. He will continue to be one of the best milers around, but if his rhythm is disrupted by competition for the lead, he does appear unable to overcome the challenge at this stage.

Gstaad was behind the early leaders, but racing alongside Dreamliner, he also appeared to struggle to settle and pulled at times as they made their way down the hill. He kept on to finish 3rd and some may interpret this as a sign that he is ready for 10 furlongs. I take a different view. I think his class saw him keep going in a well run race, but he didn’t appear to settle and seemed to want to race the pair in front of him. Having shown himself to have plenty of speed as a juvenile, I wonder if his connections decision to persist with him over the mile has meant that an opportunity may have been missed. We know that he stays this far, but he showed so much speed last season that perhaps there are a few opportunities over 7 furlongs that could have been explored. He was keen on Sunday and that makes things a little harder to assess, but he seems keen to race from the moment the stalls open and perhaps a well run race over slightly shorter might suit, though it seems highly unlikely that he will be given the chance this year.

That’s enough about the beaten horses. Let’s talk about ERDENALI. He was magnificent. Unlike Gstaad, he settled perfectly for Mickael Barzalona and traveled far better than most of his rivals down the hill. For a brief moment, it looked as if Ten Bob Tony was going to get the first run on him as he came alongside under Tom Marquand, but Erdenali wasn’t finished. Running 4 consecutive furlongs under 11s is some achievement, even on decent ground at Paris Longchamp, but that sustained burst of speed from Erdenali was the key and as hard as Ten Bob Tony tried, he simply couldn’t match that effort. We will park his defeat in the Prix Messidor at Chantilly for a moment because I don’t think there is any doubt that he should have won and it wasn’t Mickael Barzalona’s finest hour. Aside from that, he has been flawless this year and has now delivered an 8th Group 1 of the year for this trainer, Francis-Henri Graffard, who still has an outside chance of beating last year’s record haul of top level races. The ground clearly played its part in the winning time of 1:33.01, which made this the fastest Prix du Moulin since it was switched to the main course in 1987. Even taking that into account, I thought this was the performance of a truly top class individual and Erdenali has suddenly pushed his name towards the top of the European milers list. He seems to be able to handle any kind of conditions and any kind of pace, with a turn-of-foot that seems perfectly suited to Paris Longchamp. When he made his debut at Saint-Cloud earlier in the year, it certainly created a lot of hype, but Erdenali has now lived up that hype. Yes, he is a gelding and that is an important distinction to make, but he is an exceptional gelding and after this performance, he has the chance to be one of the leading milers in the years ahead.