Leffard (Fr)

If there was any tension from the Aga Khan Studs team ahead of the latest expedition of Daryz (Sea The Stars) on Thursday, it quickly melted away as the Arc-winning sensation breezed through the renamed G1 Prix Aga Khan IV. Making light work of the inaugural running of ParisLongchamp's extended nine-furlong Prix d'Ispahan under its revised title honouring the remarkable legacy of the winner's late breeder, the 1-5 favourite who could yet turn out to be one of the very finest produced by the operation brushed aside last year's Grand...

The tears were flowing following a dramatic finale to Sunday's G1 Cygames Grand Prix de Paris, with Jean-Claude Rouget pulling off an upset with Leffard (Le Havre). Rested since beating only one rival in the Prix du Jockey Club, Gerard Augustin-Normand and Ecurie Antonio Caro's 15-1 shot was able to run down Ballydoyle's favourite Trinity College (Dubawi) in the dying yards under Cristian Demuro for a short-head success. Rouget, who is in an ongoing battle with lymphoma, said, "Of course this is a very emotional moment for me. I was always...

Just six runners will line up for Sunday's €600,000 G1 Cygames Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp after final declarations for the 12-furlong test were confirmed Friday morning. Aidan O'Brien has five prior renewals in the books, some way shy of Andre Fabre's record 14, and relies on G1 Prix du Jockey Club fourth Trinity College (Dubawi), who was last seen annexing Royal Ascot's G3 Hampton Court Stakes. He will depart from stall five. Jockey Club seventh Frankly Good Cen (Frankel) and 17th Leffard (Le Havre) reoppose from stalls six...

Alain and Gerard Wertheimer's relatively unexposed 3-year-old colt Nitoi (Siyouni {Fr}) had just two prior outings under his belt heading into Friday's Listed Prix de Suresnes and called upon abundant reserves to claim a hard-fought career high in the 10-furlong Prix du Jockey Club trial. The Andre Fabre-trained homebred half-brother to G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern and G1 Hong Kong Vase hero Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}) broke through in his Sept. 16 debut at this venue and ran second in ParisLongchamp's G3 Prix Noailles on black-type debut and seasonal return...

The return of Seven Days earlier this week allows us to close the book on the stopgap that was Winter Watch. Before you know it the first Classics of the season will be upon us, leaving the cold, dark months that spanned 13 editions of this column since it first came into being in November as nothing but a distant memory. Albeit not too distant, I hope. After all, the whole reason why we embarked on this journey in the first place was with those very Classics in mind, informed...

Another 'TDN Rising Star' was born across the Channel on Tuesday, as We'll Defend (Fr) followed in the footsteps of Mandanaba (Fr) (Ghaiyyath {Ire}) and Tito Mo Cen (Ire) (Uncle Mo) by producing a sparkling debut display on the Chantilly polytrack. All told, We'll Defend is the sixth now-three-year-old to have earned 'TDN Rising Star' status in Europe since Winter Watch came into being in November, with Falakeyah (GB) (New Bay {GB}), Bowmark (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Opera Ballo (Ire) (Ghaiyyath {Ire}) also having impressed in Britain in that time....