John and Thady Gosden have shaken up the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club by supplementing Craven Stakes winner Oxagon (Franke) at a cost of €72,000 on Wednesday morning.
Owned by owner-breeder Prince Faisal, whose Mishriff won the race for the Gosden team in 2020, Oxagon was last seen finishing sixth in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Only the Aidan O'Brien-trained Flushing Meadows defected from Sunday's race at the forfeit stage on Wednesday. His Ballydoyle-trained stablemate Constitution River, who also has the option of going to Epsom, for which he is as short as 3-1 for Derby glory, has been left in the French Classic.
“Winning the French Derby is always a difficult feat to do but if you aren't in the race you can't win,” said Prince Faisal's racing adviser Ted Voute.
“In fairness to John Gosden, straight after the Dewhurst, he said this is our French Derby horse. Then we went through a confusing patch at the beginning of the year when we didn't put him in. John said again after the Guineas that this is our French Derby horse even though he isn't in it.
“The horse was giving us different messages at the beginning of the year and I think that is why he wasn't in. Fair dues to Prince Faisal for supplementing him as he could still get a bad draw and it could still prove a fruitless exercise that doesn't prove much, which is the risk you run at Chantilly.”
He added, “I think he deserves to be there and he is probably going to be the third or fourth favourite depending on what Aidan O'Brien runs. He's still got plenty in there and quite what he does with Constitution River could determine everyone else's fate given that was a mighty impressive run (at Chester).”
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