Race two on Arc day and the two-year-old colts tackle a mile in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere – except Aidan O’Brien has declared his Group One winning filly Magical.
She has a big chance and it’s probably worth waiting to see how the horse she narrowly beat last time out fares in the previous race on the card before parting with any hard earned.
Her yard, as ever, is in red-hot form and she won’t be far away at the finish.
Godolphin and Charlie Appleby run two, Masar and Mythical Magic, but I’m not sure either are the likeliest winners and we might see the best of them as three-year-olds.
The one I like is the home team’s OLMEDO, who has enjoyed a light campaign and looks to have been laid out for this.
From the yard of Jean-Claude Rouget, who have had a torrid time of late after having to retire their big Arc hope Almanzor and had half their yard shut down for the first half of the season because of a virus.
Olmedo won really impressively first time out and followed up with a fast finishing short-head defeat by Charlie Appleby’s Stage Magic when sent off odds-on earlier in September.
Jockey Cristian Demuro didn’t use the whip that time which is always a big clue that he was racing with future targets in mind.
Handed the plum draw of stall one, he should have an excellent chance of winning this if that race was indeed a stepping stone for this assignment.
Rouget has described him as his best two-year-old and, make no mistake, this is the powerful yard that cleaned up the French Group Ones last season so that’s a statement with real gravitas.
My one concern is whether soft ground sees him at his best, but he looks to go on it okay enough on the last run’s evidence for the 5/1 quotes to tempt me.
A collateral form line through Olmedo’s conqueror Stage Magic puts 12/1 shot Francesco Bere in the mix for this, but I suspect that might flatter him.
1pt win Olmedo @5/1, 13:45 Chantilly, Sunday
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