Classic pointers

Sunday sees a swing in the momentum towards the more meaningful Flat action of 2024, with Leopardstown--which has to survive an early-morning inspection--and ParisLongchamp staging a host of Classic trials. Ballydoyle's wheels are really set in motion at the former venue, with several of their promising 3-year-olds ready to be unleashed in the card's trio of preps including the 10-furlong G3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax S. It is in that early Derby pointer that Rosegreen's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud third Illinois (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and impressive course maiden-winning TDN Rising...

First it was Agave, then Dreamflight and now Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) as the Andre Fabre-Olivier Peslier link-up continues apace in the new season. Al Wasmiyah Farm's G1 Prix Marcel Boussac heroine returns in the seven-furlong G3 Prix Imprudence at Deauville, a key trial for the upcoming mile Classics last won by a subsequent 1000 Guineas heroine in Natagora (Fr) (Divine Light {Jpn}) in 2008 and in 2015 by the eventual G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches scorer Ervedya (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). Peslier is on record as saying that he...