ParisLongchamp Sunday

3.33 Prix Du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1)

THE quality of the Group 1 Prix du Moulin seems to vary greatly from year to year and, while such great names as Goldikova, Ervedya, Persian King and Baaeed have been engraved on the trophy over the past decade and a half, this Sunday’s renewal lacks a single overseas contender and is unlikely to feature in a highlights reel come the end of the European season.

That said, if one horse and one trainer deserves to find a soft Group 1 to feast upon it is surely the three-year-old Rock Of Gibraltar colt Big Rock and his young handler, Christopher Head.

With the exception of a brief summer sojourn during July, Big Rock has raced in every single calendar month from last November onwards and, since he got off the mark in handicap company in February, his progress has been nothing short of extraordinary.

A run of four consecutive victories was brought to an end by Ace Impact in what has turned out to be an exceptionally strong Prix du Jockey Club, but he still finished an excellent second, and he again had to settle for the runner-up spot behind Inspiral, with numerous top class animals in his wake, when dropping down to this trip in the Prix Jacques Le Marois three weeks ago.

The combination of fast ground and a flat mile around a bend may represent a big speed test for him, but he has shown loads of pace many times this year and should be capable of breaking his Group 1 duck.

Though still riding high in fourth place in the trainers’ championship in France, Head also could do with a change in big race fortune, Big Rock’s stablemates Blue Rose Cen and Ramatuelle both having suffered reverses in recent weeks.

Successful in October’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, Belbek is the only previous Group 1 winner in a field of eight, but that was a sub-standard running of one of France’s top juvenile races and he has been well beaten in all three 2023 starts.

The other two three-year-olds in the line-up are the fillies and old rivals Sauterne and Kelina. The score between them stands at 2-1 in favour of the twice Group 1-placed Sauterne, but she has been even busier than Big Rock and that hectic schedule may eventually catch up with her so the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham heroine and fast ground lover Kelina may fare best this time.

Of the four older runners, Erevann has not lived up to the promise of his close third in last year’s Marois and has over five lengths to make up on Big Rock from the more recent running of that Deauville showpiece. Then you have Fast Raaj and Topgear, who filled the first two places in July’s Group 3 Prix Messidor but need to make a big leap forward to be competitive against the nation’s top milers.

That leaves us with the highly progressive Jerome Reynier-trained gelding Facteur Cheval as the one most likely to chase Big Rock home. Although winless in four outings this term, he has not been beaten by more than a length and a half during that period and gave Paddington a small fright before finishing a fine second in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes last time out.

SELECTION: Big Rock

NEXT BEST: Facteur Cheval

THE ParisLongchamp card also features four €80,000 Group 3 races which, sadly, are all lacking a single Irish or British competitor.

Probably the most interesting of them comes right at the start, at 12.58pm Irish time, as the seven-furlong Prix La Rochette for two-year-olds features the Yann Barberot-trained Lope De Vega colt Beauvatier, who has already lowered the colours of the subsequent Prix Morny second Ramatuelle and can stretch a perfect start to his career to four straight races at the expense of Havana Cigar.

The Ace Impact form goes on trial in the Prix du Prince d’Orange (10 furlongs) as Birr Castle, who got to within a length of the superstar colt in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, faces six opponents topped by Horizon Dore, who must shoulder a 4lb penalty for his win in the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam.

Also over 10 furlongs, the evergreen eight-year-old Monty defends his crown against the useful German raider Alessio in La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte, while it may pay to take a chance on the improving handicapper Rock Joyeux in the Prix Gladiateur (just under two miles).