When you are on to a good thing, it is too hard to ignore and despite initial feeling that the Aug. 23 G2 Great Voltigeur S. would be the last for Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) this term he is back at Chantilly on Sunday for the G2 Qatar Prix Niel. Pure wellbeing has forced the hands of connections to run him again in this time-honoured trial for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and a big performance here could yet thrust them into a much more awkward decision as to whether he joins stablemate Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in three weeks' time. Owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer is keeping an open mind. “He's a horse we know is getting stronger by the day,” he said. “It should be good-to-soft ground, I think. It's been drying there and it drains well. It was good-to-soft at York and he ran well there–it may even give him an advantage as he seems to really relish it. I would like to run him as a 4-year-old, so we don't want to give him a really hard race this year. We want him to enjoy his racing and if he goes on to race at four, he will have some hard races then.”
While Cracksman looks very hard to beat on the formbook, this race has gone the way of the Andre Fabre stable on a record 11 occasions and so his representatives command due respect. Khalid Abdullah's G2 Prix Eugene Adam winner Finche (GB) (Frankel {GB}) bids to prove his surprise success in that 10-furlong Maisons-Laffitte contest July 16 was no fluke, while Godolphin's Avilius (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) who was third in that race went on to fill the same position behind Eminent (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano also over a mile and a quarter at Deauville Aug. 15. “Finche is in very good condition, he's a very progressive horse and I think the extra two furlongs will really help him,” Fabre explained. “Avilius is very genuine and consistent and is working well, so I hope he will run a good race, too.” Also in the Juddmonte silks is the Pascal Bary-trained Ice Breeze (GB) (Nayef), who beat Shakeel (Fr) (Dalakhani {Ire}) by a head in the G2 Prix Hocquart over this course and distance June 18 before running fourth to that rival in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris at Saint-Cloud July 14.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
