ParisLongchamp Saturday

1.33 Qatar Prix du Cadran (Group 1) 2m 4f

There have been some vintage renewals of the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Cadran over recent years, and the image of Kyprios turning last season’s running into a rout will live long in the memory. The 2023 version is not one of them.

The favourite from a substandard field of six will be Trueshan, who enjoyed his finest hour in this very race two years ago, when notching a wide margin success with various Group 1 winners toiling in his wake.

Alan King’s gelding did not repeat that level of form last term and his current campaign has been troubled: two spring defeats at short prices, followed by wind surgery.

On the face of it, he appeared to get back on track last time, when landing the Group 2 Doncaster Cup, but that was a very odd affair, as Trueshan somehow scored despite pulling jockey Hollie Doyle’s arms out for three-quarters of the race, and an untrustworthy formline.

Beaten

Trueshan will not have his favoured soft ground and, given that he has been beaten at even-money or shorter in three of his last five starts, needs to be opposed.

Finding the right one to beat him is tricky. Aidan O’Brien’s Emily Dickinson needs plenty of cut underfoot to be at her best so will not have ideal conditions yet, as an easy Group 2 winner and a Group 1 runner-up in her last two starts, still merits big respect.

Skazino is a dual Group 2 scorer at this track but the fact that he was not an original entry (he has been supplemented) suggests that connections have misgivings about this two miles and four furlongs trip, while a massive run from the Czech raider, Vert Liberte, is not the most fanciful notion.

Preference, however, is for the other Irish raider, Run For Oscar. He has proved himself perfectly suited to marathon distances on a couple of occasions, most famously when winning the Cesarewitch at Newmarket a year ago, and the combination of an extra three-quarters of a mile plus the switch to faster ground should enable him to reverse Curragh Cup placings with Emily Dickinson.

SELECTION: RUN FOR OSCAR

Next Best: Verte Liberte

3.33 Qatar Prix De Royallieu (Group 1) 1m 6f

Three Irish-trained filles among the 14 runners for this mile and six-furlong event, which has been won by British trainers every time since it was upped in trip from a mile, four furlongs, 100 yards and attained Group 1 status in 2019.

Joseph O’Brien’s Thunder Roll will need to have improved markedly from when she lost her maiden tag in a listed affair at Galway earlier this month to get competitive in this company, but Aidan O’Brien’s Library already has a top level placing when third in the Irish Oaks and has every chance of being involved in the finish.

The best of the Irish trio could be Dermot Weld’s Shamida, a lightly-raced daughter of Australia who has won her last three including a pair of Group 3s, while the pick of four British hopes could be the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks winner Poptronic, who may be reinvigorated by having been given a break since mid-August.

Yet the overseas raiders may all have to give best to Meli Melo, a Francis Graffard-trained daughter of Gleneagles who did so well to get to within a short neck of the Yorkshire Oaks heroine Warm Heart in the Prix Vermeille and should confirm that form with Sea Silk Road and Rue Boissonade.

SELECTION: MELI MELO

Next Best: Rue Boissonade

Rest of the card

Today’s undercard includes three Group 2 races, each one boasting €200,000 in total prize money, plus a €320,000 Arqana sales race over a mile which should fall prey to Joseph O’Brien’s Group 1 National Stakes second, the Wootton Bassett colt Islandsinthestream.

In the Group 2 events, the Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein over a mile may fall to Roger Varian’s exciting Roaring Lion colt, Embesto, Horizon Dore can complete a four-timer in the Qatar Prix Dollar, over nine furlongs and 165 yards, and Dermot Weld’s Harbour Wind can open his pattern race account in the Qatar Prix de Chaudenay over a mile and seven furlongs.