ParisLongchamp Sunday

2.50 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1) 1m

The first Group 1 of the French autumn season, the Prix du Moulin, sees Charyn, the clubhouse leader in the race to be crowned Europe’s champion miler, come up against two excellent members of the classic generation in the shape of the brilliant 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes hero, Notable Speech, and Aidan O’Brien’s St James’s Palace Stakes runner-up, Henry Longfellow.

If the same Charyn who outclassed his Prix Jacques le Marois rivals by an easy three lengths four weeks ago turns up again, Roger Varian’s four-year-old Dark Angel colt will be very difficult to beat.

The going is likely to be on the soft side, but Charyn has proven himself adaptable to most types of terrain, and his one reverse this term came in the Lockinge Stakes, where he proved much the best of the rest after Audience had been allowed to get loose on the lead.

Notable Speech has also looked to be something out of the ordinary during a season which started with a winning racecourse debut on the all-weather way back in January and has included two dominant top-level victories.

Trailing home

But Charlie Appleby’s charge proved his fallibility when trailing home almost six lengths behind Henry Longfellow at Royal Ascot and, even if he again runs up to the form which saw him redeem himself in the Sussex Stakes, it may not be enough to cope with Charyn.

Henry Longfellow may not have been suited by a switch to front-running tactics in the Sussex Stakes, but he was still beaten by little more than three lengths despite being eased in the closing stages and should not be far behind Notable Speech as they clash for the third time.

The rest of a seven-runner field are no mugs, though it will be a surprise if any of the quartet are quite good enough to spring a surprise. Kelina is a Group 2 winner at this trip and showed that she is capable of running up to an exceptional standard when landing the seven-furlong Prix de la Foret last October, yet has been seen only thrice since then, disappointing on each occasion.

The front-running Tribalist is a dual Group 2 Prix du Muguet victor who has come up short in his three previous tries in the very highest company; the Group 3 scorer Caramelito is unbeaten in three career starts over this course and distance, albeit at a much lower level; and Ramadan, who runs in the same light blue Nurlan Bizakov silks as Charyn, is a dual Group 3 winner who could battle Tribalist for the lead.

SELECTION: CHARYN

Next Best: Notable Speech

The pick of four supporting €80,000 Group 3 races on the ParisLongchamp card is an intriguing renewal of the Prix du Prince d’Orange, a mile and two furlong, three-year-old contest in which three of its seven runners are recent recruits to the highly powerful Wathnan Racing Qatari ownership group.

While Fast Tracker and the unbeaten Map Of Stars have both been successful at listed level, the best of the trio should be the Andre Fabre-trained First Look, who beat all except Look De Vega in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club and can be forgiven for finishing only fourth at Royal Ascot a mere 18 days later. However, even he may not be good enough to stop John and Thady Gosden’s Night Of Thunder colt Ombudsman from taking his career record to four wins from four.

Dermot Weld’s Harbour Wind can take another step towards a possible tilt at the Melbourne Cup by landing the mile, seven furlong and 100yards Prix Gladiateur and there is also Irish involvement in the day’s big juvenile contest, the seven-furlong Prix La Rochette, where Joseph O’Brien’s Midnight Strike faces a seven-strong home contingent.

The other Group 3, the mile and two-furlong La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte for older horses, may be plundered by Jack Channon’s ever-improving eight-year-old Certain Lad.