ParisLongchamp Saturday

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

There will be lots of questions asked in the winner’s enclosure following today’s Group 1 Qatar Prix du Cadran.

More than likely, Kyprios will have just brushed aside his four rivals with the same kind of disdain that he has been showing in victory throughout this campaign, his status as Europe’s top stayer further enhanced.

If so, his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, will be hit with numerous enquiries, not about what has just happened, but asking if he has made the right decision to take this soft option, rather than roll the dice and see how the magnificent son of Galileo would fare over a mile and a half in the following day’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The last time that Kyprios ran in this two miles, four-furlong event, two years ago, he was so far clear rounding the home turn that he was able to take a radical detour to the outside rail and almost come to a standstill, yet still prevail by the astonishing margin of 20 lengths, once Ryan Moore had convinced him to restart the engine and head towards the winning post.

British raiders make up three-quarters of his opposition, led by Trueshan, who is already a dual Cadran winner, initially in 2021, when he lowered the colours of the mighty Stradivarius. He is nothing like the same horse now, though, at the age of eight.

Similar comments can be made about Coltrane, at seven just a year Trueshan’s junior, while Sir Mark Prescott’s Miss Cynthia is thrown in at the deep end here, in the hope that she can sneak some Group 1 black type.

So, if there is to be a surprise, it will surely be provided by the solitary home challenger, the Christophe Ferland-trained Double Major. Winner of the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak here last autumn, this four-year-old only hit form this term once he reverted to front-running tactics.

However, if Double Major makes this a true test of stamina, it will probably simply allow Kyprios to extend the size of his superiority, while notching an eighth top level triumph, though surely he cannot get close to repeating the margin of 2022?

SELECTION: KYPRIOS

Next Best: Double Major

4.00 Qatar Prix De Royallieu (Group 1) (3yo+ Fillies & Mares) 1m 6f

The name Henry de Bromhead will be unfamiliar to regular Longchamp racegoers, hence his only runner there, Higher Leaves, was allowed to go off at odds of 23/1 last month, when winning in listed company.

Today, the giant of the Irish jumping game can advertise his training skills to the Parisians even further by landing his first flat Group 1, the Qatar Prix de Royallieu, with Term Of Endearment.

The Co Waterford maestro has brought this five-year-old mare along with great patience, sending her to the track just 11 times in four seasons, and she has responded by making relentless progress, peaking with victory in the Group 2 Lillie Langtry Stakes, with three of these opponents behind, at Goodwood two months ago.

A trio of O’Brien-trained three-year-old fillies, Grateful, Lily Hart and Port Fairy, take her on here among a field of 16, but it is the John and Thady Gosden’s One Evening, who looked like she needed a return to this kind of trip, when staying on late to finish a close third in a Deauville Group 2 last time, who could be the one to give Term Of Endearment most to do.

SELECTION: TERM OF ENDEARMENT

Next Best: One Evening

Rest of the card

Today’s undercard includes three Group 2 races, each one boasting €200,000 in total prize money, plus a 12-runner €260,000 Arqana sales race for juveniles over a mile, in which O’Brien saddles Mount Kilimanjaro.

In the Group 2 events, O’Brien’s English St Leger runner-up Illinois escapes a penalty for his Queen’s Vase success and will be very hard to beat in the Qatar Prix de Chaudenay over mile and seven, Make Me King can take the Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein over a mile for Hamad Al Jehani, and the Owen Burrows-trained Anmaat may make it six wins from his last seven starts in the Qatar Prix Dollar over mile, one furlong and 165 yards.