French Guineas at Longchamp

A big day in Paris today, where the Longchamp card features the Poule d´Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) at 15.50 CET and the Poule d´Essai des Pouliches (1,000 Guineas) at 16.25. Both have large fields, with the colts´ race having no fewer than 19 starters. It looks very open, and the large field and the effect of the draw mean that luck in running may well be the decisive factor. Three of the most fancied runners are badly drawn - Godolphin´s main hope Rio de la Plata (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori), André Fabre´s Thewayyouare (Stephane Pasquier) and Freddie Head´s Tamayuz (Davy Bonilla), the latter two both still unbeaten. It may pay to concentrate on horses drawn in the centre, e.g. Aidan O´Brien´s selected Georgebernardshaw (Johnny Murtagh) and Godolphin´´s second string Il Warrd (Kerrin McEvoy). The fillies´ race on the other hand looks straightforward. On all known form, the Aga Khan´s Zarkava (Alain de Royer-Dupré/ Christophe Soumillon), impressive winner of all her three starts so far and almost certainly the best filly in Europe, should win this easily, but probably at long odds-on. The Group Three Prix de St-Georges over 1000 metres at 17.00 is quite open. Calbuco (B. Dutreuil/ William Mongil) is much improved and has won his last three races but is facing better opposition now. Royer-Dupré´s Wilki (Christophe Lemaire) has the best overall profile, while German challenger Mario Hofer´s Mood Music (Dominique Boeuf) is not without a chance. Other German-trained runners here are Man of Fire (Erika Mäder/ Olivier Peslier), Famous (Mario Hofer/ Boeuf) and Vianconi (Dr.Bolte/ Soumillon), all in the 1400 metres seller at 17.35, and Andreas Trybuhl´s Grazilla (Mongil) in the 1950 metres handicap at 18.05.