German runners in France today

Main event in France today is the Prix Edmond Blanc, a Group Three race over a mile at 15.40 at Saint-Cloud. German runners have a good record here and there could well be another German victory, as two of the 7 runners are trained in Germny. They are Liang Kay (Uwe Ostmann/ Maxime Guyon) and König Bernard (Werner Baltromei/ Dominique Boeuf); the latter won two valuable handicaps on France last year, but is untested at this level, while Liang Kay, who will like the heavy ground, is a proven group race performer; the problem is whether he will be fit enough against his French rivals, most of whom have already run well this year. Gris de Gris (Alain de Royer-Dupré / Christophe Lemaire) is a CD specialist and won this race last year; recently he was outspeeded here by Skins Game (Jean-Claude Rouget/ Christophe Soumillon), who now reopposes on 2 kilos worse terms. Vertigineux (Carole Dufreche/ Philippe Sorgob) won a Group Two over this CD 11 months ago, but has not run since and must concede weight all round. At his best Liang Kay could win this, but Gris de Gris is probably the safer bet today.

Two other German runners here today are Astronom (Baltromei/ Boeuf) in the tiercé handicap over 2100 metres at 15.08 and Valdino (Ostmann/ Oliver Schnakenberg) in the conditions race over 3100 metres for amateur riders at 16.40. Valdino won 5 successive races in 2008, including the German St. Leger, but was out of form last season; He loves heavy ground and has the best chance of the German runners today. Astronom, a winner in January at Cagnes sur mer, should also run well, but this is a very tough race.