I HAD a good sleep last Sunday night.

Five months to go until the 2023 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and, as of that day’s Prix Ganay, there is one outstanding candidate for Europe’s biggest all-aged race. And Iresine is not your average top class flat horse.

He cost a paltry €6,000 as a yearling, is trained many kilometres away from the bright lights in deeply rural central France near Lyon and is ridden with great come-from-behind panache by the multiple French Champion Female Jockey, Marie Velon.

What a story this was going to be, one to top Alpinista crowning Sir Mark Prescott’s career with last season’s triumph. And what could go wrong?

Iresine loves Longchamp, relishes soft ground, stays almost two miles and had now proved himself against the best over little more than a mile and a quarter.

And then I woke up.… and remembered to my horror that geldings like Iresine are not allowed to take part in the Arc.

Such disappointment should not detract from what Iresine achieved in landing the Ganay. This was no ordinary renewal of the race, even with the late defections of Luxembourg and Onesto, it was a top quality race and Iresine was clearly the best horse on the day.

Strong run

Ridden chilly, as usual, he came with a strong run down the outside to vie for the lead with Simca Mille and Bay Bridge approaching the furlong marker and then proved a length and a quarter too strong for his Prix d’Harcourt conqueror, Simca Mille, who edged out Bay Bridge by a head in what turned out to be a joust for the runner’s-up spot.

Yes, Iresine was suited by the soft ground and the fact that, unlike the three other previous Group 1 winners in the seven-runner line up, he had the benefit of a previous run.

Yet, for a horse who had won the French St Leger to be able to demonstrate such a sharp acceleration over this trip was quite remarkable.

All the more so when his trainer, Jean-Pierre Gauvin, came into the race in such awful form, having saddled a solitary winner from his last 65 runners.

And not forgetting that this was a six-year-old who only last August was well beaten in Group 3 company, taking on some of the continent’s most vaunted bluebloods.

Incredible

Velon, who is now two-from-two when taking part in Group 1 races, said afterwards: “This is enormous, what Iresine achieved today is absolutely incredible.

“We have been wondering how strong the form of his recent races was but today he was up against some real top notchers.”

“After the d’Harcourt my first words were ‘we’re going to win the Ganay’ and he didn’t let me down, his turn of foot was awesome.

“It’s always a bit scary trying to come from such a long way off the pace in a big race, whether it’s over a mile two furlongs or a mile seven furlongs, but it’s the only way to ride him.”

The Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud is his next target, possibly via the Grand Prix de Chantilly. Beyond that Gauvin is keeping his options open, with visits to Hong Kong and Britain being mentioned while wary of the fact that, in his younger days, Iresine gave the impression of not relishing being away from home.

“I’m still not sure if he likes travelling but we would like to have a go at a foreign adventure with him at least once,” Gauvin said.

Thrilled

Fabrice Chappet was thrilled at Simca Mille’s effort and joked afterwards that looking at the English programme book for future options was giving him the shivers, while Bay Bridge ran as if he was just in need of the outing and is now having his sights set on Ireland and the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

In Iresine’s absence, Vadeni remains the most likely Arc hero despite having finished only fourth here, beaten a total of three lengths.

“He was not fully fit and ran exactly as I expected,” trainer Jean-Claude Rouget said. “He lost a front shoe and Christophe Soumillon was not hard on him.”

“His next mission is the Prix d’Ispahan (over an extended mile and a furlong on May 29th) but it’s perfectly possible that he’ll be beaten there too if he runs into a top miler.

“His two big targets for the season have always been the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and the Arc and if he wins both of them nobody will ever remember that he was beaten in the Ganay.”

One final word on the Ganay. French prize money may be good, yet the William Haggas-trained Dubai Honour still earned €130,000 more for finishing third in Hong Kong a few hours earlier than he would have done for winning the Ganay.

Sunday’s mile, seven furlongs and 110 yards Group 3 Prix de Barbeville witnessed a 1-2-3 for the home team as Big Call, sixth to Iresine in the Prix Royal-Oak last October and clearly none the worse for a February visit to Saudi Arabia, made all and held on gamely for owner-trainer Christophe Ferland.

Earlier the Waldemar Hickst-trained German mare India came out on top in the mile two furlongs Group 3 Prix Allez France, catching Andre Fabre’s Mqse de Sevigne right on the line.

With no overseas involvement in Monday’s Saint-Cloud feature, the mile Group 2 Prix du Muguet, Fabre’s front-running Tribalist repeated the Prix Perth form to again overcome Facteur Cheval with Rouget once more citing lack of peak fitness for the defeat of third-placed Erevann, who is being aimed at the Queen Anne Stakes. The winner is also eyeing a big British prize, the Lockinge Stakes.

Aidan off the mark

Aidan O’Brien scratched all his Longchamp Sunday entries but get off the mark for his French campaign when Greenland had just enough in hand to hold off the rallying pace-setter, Harry Way, in the mile, two furlong 110yards Group 3 Prix Greffuhle.

I doubt that a strict repetition of this form would be enough to see Greenland prevail on his likely next French target, the Prix du Jockey Club.

Mullins at Auteuil

There was also an Irish runner at Auteuil on Saturday, the Willie Mullins-trained Franco De Port asserting his right to be allowed a second crack at the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in a fortnight’s time with a fast-finishing third in the Grade 3 Prix Ingre.