PRIX DU JOCKEY CLUB

(GROUP 1)

A TRIP to Ireland could be on the agenda for last Sunday’s QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club hero, Study Of Man.

However, officials at the Curragh will be disappointed to find out that it is unlikely to be for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby – for which he would need to be supplemented – with connections favouring a visit to Leopardstown for the Irish Champion Stakes in the autumn.

Speaking 24 hours after Study Of Man had held off a host of late challengers to land the Chantilly classic by half a length, Alan Cooper, racing manager to the colt’s owner-breeders, The Niarchos Family, said: “I saw Study Of Man this morning and he seemed fine.

“We will need a little while to think things through, and nothing has been ruled out, but it is possible that he will be aimed at the Irish Champion Stakes [at Leopardstown on September 15th] with a view to going on to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. I think that he could improve again on genuinely fast ground.”

Analysts have been quick to crab the standard of the Prix du Jockey Club form, in particular the presence of the rank outsider, Louis d’Or, in a close third, less than a length behind the winner, and pointing out that the only previous Group 1 scorer in the field, Olmedo, clearly ran below his ability in 13th place.

Yet there are a number of reasons to believe that Study Of Man is capable of considerably better than he showed than when winning the €857,100 first prize.

For starters, he’s highly inexperienced – this was only his fourth start and his first proper race. The first two, which yielded a maiden victory and a Group 3 second, had been on highly unsuitable heavy ground, while the third, a win in the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe, was a tactical affair with just four runners and a slow pace.

On Sunday it took most of the home straight for Study Of Man to get on top – he only really asserted in the last 100 yards. Jockey Stephane Pasquier had an explanation, saying: “I had to ride him a bit more aggressively than is ideal, taking him out of his natural rhythm, as the Jockey Club can get very messy and I needed to take advantage of my low draw.

“That’s why his acceleration was less dramatic than in the Greffulhe. Under different circumstances, behind a strong pace, I’ll be able to take my time behind and really use his turn of foot.”

With Maria Niarchos, the driving force behind her late father Stavros’s racing empire, unavoidably detained in America where her children are in the middle of exam season, it was left to her niece, Electra, to collect the trophy.

She revealed that trainer Pascal Bary had first earmarked Study Of Man as a potential Jockey Club winner on the day he saddled Senga to land the Prix de Diane last June – fully three months before he had made his racecourse debut.

Such bullishness is not normal for Bary, yet there is no questioning that he can recognise a top-class horse we he gets his hands on one – this was his sixth Jockey Club triumph (though his first since 2004) and he was assistant to the legendary François Boutin during the career of Study Of Man’s grandam, the 10-time Group 1 winner Miesque.

GUARDED

Typically, Bary was quite guarded afterwards when asked if Study Of Man would appreciate a step up to a mile and a half.

“He’s just a young horse, and his pedigree is more about going over a mile rather than a mile and a half, so I don’t think that we will be rushing him up in trip.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea to immediately ask him the impossible when he’s got his whole life in front of him. I well remember Miesque getting beaten the first time that she raced beyond a mile.

“He can go farther, but we’ll get there steadily.”

PATIENCE SPEAKS VOLUMES

Such caution and patience speaks volumes about how highly Bary rates his new prodigy. “Ever since the very first moment he set foot in my yard, he’s been a fantastic colt,” he said.

“He does everything well, and always tries to give you more than you ask. He’s got great big eyes and a beautiful expression, an expression that reminds me of Miesque. He’s an absolute pleasure to train.”

Coming just a week after another descendant of Miesque, Alpha Centauri, had carried the Niarchos silks to victory in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Study Of Man’s success left Cooper in awe of the thoroughbred family that he had inherited.

“It’s all down to Stavros Niarchos, François Boutin and Sir Philip Payne-Gallwey – he was the man who picked out Miesque’s dam, Pasadoble, at the sales in Kentucky back in 1980,” Cooper said.

“They created an incredible racing dynasty. Just before the race Electra told me that Miesque has produced no less than 36 blacktype winners.”