By Sean Cronin
Aga Khan Studs homebred Rayif (Sea The Moon), whose year-older half-sister Rayevka (Blue Point) took the G3 Prix de Saint-Georges earlier on the card, became trainer Francis Graffard's first winner of ParisLongchamp's G1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains with a dominant performance in this year's renewal. He becomes the the Aga Khan Studs' first winner of the race since Sendawar in 1999.
“I always prefer to prepare the horses I train with races that gradually bring them towards the major targets, but this time I didn't really have a choice and I was forced to skip the prep races,” admitted Graffard. “The rain arrived and complicated things a little for us, but we were fortunate to have a very good draw, which allowed us to race close to the pace. From there, everything unfolded perfectly and the horse was able to quicken again. He reaccelerated at the right moment and put everything together perfectly.
“It's true that I've been enjoying a very good spell over the last few months,” he added. “We had a solid foundation to work from and we managed to stay faithful to it. Right now, several horses from the stable are performing at a very high level and it's hugely satisfying. I hope this momentum continues, because it's only the beginning of the season and it's already been a wonderful period for us. I didn't realise it had been so long since an Aga Khan Studs horse won this race, but this is a very important victory. In the racing industry, producing stallions and helping them establish themselves at stud is essential. With this success, he has clearly earned his place as a future stallion. His [half] sister won the [G3] Prix de Saint-Georges earlier today, so this is a family that continues to rise in strength. It's a real source of satisfaction for the whole team because this result rewards an enormous amount of hard work. We'll see how he comes out of the race, but the idea is to continue along this path and the [G1] St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot will be his next target.”
The 11-2 chance was positioned in a close third after the initial strides of the one-mile Classic. Nudged along once into the home straight, he was ridden to challenge the pacesetting G3 Autumn Stakes winner Hankelow (Night Of Thunder) with 300 metres remaining and kept on strongly inside the final furlong to defeat Godolphin's fast-finishing G3 Prix de Fontainebleau victor Komorebi (Pinatubo) by a length.
Hankelow was chinned by a head on the line for second place, while 9-10 favourite Puerto Rico (Wootton Bassett) was ideally placed to strike throughout, but lacked the necessary kick when it mattered and finished a neck back in fourth.
Rayif debuted with a win at Deauville in July and doubled his tally back there in the following month's G3 Prix Francois Boutin before hitting the board behind Puerto Rico in this venue's G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Arc weekend when last seen.
Ever-deepening conditions affected several contenders and Godolphin's runner-up Komorebi may have finished closer in drier conditions. “We are very pleased and he ran extremely well,” commented Louise Benard. “He found himself a little wide early in the race, but just as he did in the Fontainebleau, he showed that he never gives up. He really gives everything with tremendous determination and was still a bit further back than the others when the sprint began. He showed great tenacity all the way to the line. William Buick said that slightly quicker ground would have suited him better, but it's still a very fine second place today.”
Looking to the future, she continued, “We believe he can be stepped up in trip and we'll take our time to analyse things and make a decision. William was not negative about trying him over a longer distance and the [May 31 G1] Prix du Jockey Club has not been ruled out at this stage. He has never finished outside the first two and, last year, we chose not to run him in the end-of-season Group 1 [Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere] in order to preserve him and give him time to mature. He had a very good winter, which we already saw on his comeback run and which was confirmed again today.”
Karl Burke was far from downcast in the aftermath and is looking forward to the French Derby for Hankelow. “He ran a super race and, at the two-furlong marker, I thought we might actually win it,” the trainer said. “He'll stay further and he simply lacked the winner's turn of foot, but he came back again strongly at the finish. I think with another ten strides he might even have regained second place. He's a very good horse, we always believed he needed this type of [softened] ground and it was the first time he had raced on it. Longchamp suits my horses very well and we've had a lot of success here. I think he'll come back [to France] for the [May 31 G1] Prix du Jockey Club, but first we'll take him home before making a decision. It will certainly be high on the list. Maybe the winner is an exceptional horse and Francis [Graffard] can do no wrong at the moment.”
Analysing the performance of beaten odds-on favourite Puerto Rico, Aidan O'Brien said, “He was a bit rusty and he ran very well, but the penny just really didn't drop until the race was over. We kind of prepared him to run at Newmarket [in the G1 2000 Guineas] and then we skipped it. Maybe he was kind of ready to peak last week and in the [past] week he just went down a little bit. That could be the reason, but we were very happy to run. For his first time back, it was a very respectable run and you'd be looking forward to him running next time.”
Rayif takes out the French 2,000 Guineas! 🏆🇫🇷@GraffardRacing | @AgaKhanStuds pic.twitter.com/VSh3OHvIKJ
— Sky Sports Racing (@SkySportsRacing) May 10, 2026
Pedigree Notes
Rayif is the sixth of seven foals and leading performer out of the dual stakes-placed Rayisa (Holy Roman Emperor), herself a half-sister to G3 Athasi Stakes victrix Rehana (Dark Angel).
His second dam Rayka (Selkirk) is a half-sister to Group 3-winning G1 Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Rayeni (Indian Ridge).
The winner is a half-brother to the aforementioned G3 Prix de Saint-Georges winner and G1 Commonwealth Cup third Rayevka (Blue Point) and a yearling colt by Vadeni.
Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France
EMIRATES POULE D'ESSAI DES POULAINS-G1, €650,000, ParisLongchamp, 5-10, 3yo, c, 8fT, 1:38.63, vsf.
1–RAYIF (IRE), 128, c, 3, by Sea The Moon (Ger)
1st Dam: Rayisa (Ire) (MSP-Ire), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)
2nd Dam: Rayka (Ire), by Selkirk
3rd Dam: Rayyana (Ire), by Rainbow Quest
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O/B-Aga Khan Studs; T-Francis-Henri Graffard; J-Mickael Barzalona. €371,410. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-1, €476,580. *1/2 to Rayevka (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), GSW-Fr & G1SP-Eng. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Komorebi (Ire), 128, c, 3, Pinatubo (Ire)–Lyric Of Light (GB), by Street Cry (Ire). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Godolphin; T-Andre Fabre. €148,590.
3–Hankelow (Ire), 128, c, 3, Night Of Thunder (Ire)–Sagaciously (Ire), by Lawman (Fr). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (210,000gns Wlg '23 TADEWE; 750,000gns Ylg '24 TATOCT). O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum; B-George Kent; T-Karl Burke. €74,295.
Margins: 1, HD, NK. Odds: 5.50, 11.00, 9.00.
Also Ran: Puerto Rico (Ire), Elastic (Fr), Nighttime (Fr), Good Bye Manu (Ire), Dorset (Ire), Khovikhov (Fr), Mijas (Fr), Imperior (Fr), Segall (Ire), Wootton Centurion (Ire).
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