SLOWLY, things are beginning to return to normal, if running races, big and small, behind closed doors and with advanced hygiene measures can be described as “normal”. That has been the case in France since May 11th, though even then a late scare saw their version of the Guineas switched to Deauville from ParisLongchamp.

Round mile, as at ParisLongchamp, or straight mile, as at Deauville, makes little difference to Victor Ludorum, who won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains on Monday with reasonable authority from the colt who had turned him over in his trial, The Summit.

On a day when times were fast, implying the ground was firmer than good (never mind the official “good to soft”), the Poulains was run at a sound gallop and resulted in a 115 timefigure for the winner, upgraded to 116 on account of a final 400 metres of 22.89s. He went in snatches a bit early but could be named the likely winner a fair way out.

The Summit gets a 111 rating, which is more solid than his tactical Fontainebleau win, while Alson repeated his previous 110 best in third and possibly deserves extra credit on what was his reappearance and on the firmest ground he has encountered.

Thoughts immediately turned to the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) on July 5th with the winner, and a good rather than spectacular winner of the first colts’ classic should be a leading contender if he stays. His breeding says he will, but his quick striding is more typical of a miler.

Pouliches

Victor Ludorum’s time was 1.54s (nearly 10 lengths) quicker than that recorded by Dream And Do in winning the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches soon after, with pretty much all of that difference coming in the first half of the respective races. That reflects much better on the colts than the fillies all told.

Dream And Do was a substandard winner of the Pouliches, worth a rating of just 105 even after some sectional adjustment, but the nose runner-up to her, Speak Of The Devil, was unlucky on what was just her third start and gets a 109 figure based on sectionals, checked a couple of times before finishing well. Mageva (104) in third was another to make late gains and could still be open to improvement.