Goldikova at Longchamp

a very strong card at Longchamp this afternoon, but the star of the show is undoubtedly the 6yo mare Goldikova (Freddie Head/ Olivier Peslier), who makes her seasonal debut in the Group One Prox d´Ispahan over 1850 metres at 15.45 CET. The 12 times Group On winner (a world record) win this last year, also on her debut, against Byword (Andre Fabre/ Maxime Guyon), who reopposes today. Course specialist Cirrus des Aigles (Corinne Barande-Barbe/ Christophe Soumillon) could also run well, but we are less convinced by Dick Turpin (Richard Hannon/ Dick Turpin), a big diappointment at Newbury last week. Goldikova is not unbeatable, but all racing fans will hope that she starts her final season with another commanding performance.
The other Group One on the card is the Prix Saint-Alary for 3yo fillies at 15.30, a major trial for the Prix de Diane. This looks quite a puzzle this year, but possibly Epic Love (Pascal Bary/ Stephane Pasquier) could be the answer. The Prix Vicomtesse Vigier over 3100 metres at 16.20 sees several of France´s leading stayers in the field. They all met last time in the Prix de Barbeville won by Dunaden (Mikel Delzangles/ Gregory Benoist) and there seems to be no reason why he should not hold them again. However the Godolphin raider OpinionPoll (Mahmood al Zarooni/ Mikael Barzalona) is made of sterner stuff and is our selection.
Another British winner could be Hurricane Higgins (Mark Johnston/ Joe Fanning) in the listed Prix de l´Avre for 3yo´s over 2400 metres at 15.00. He rn very gren when runnr-up on th:Lingfield Drby trial and should improve a lot for that. German hope Ibicenco (Jens Hirschberger/ Tom Queally), one of Schlenderhan´s strong team of classic hopefuls, is the main danger.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Don Bosco - Sommerabend - Plain Vanilla
2. Race: Genzy - Hurricane Higgins - Shamar
3. Race: Epic Love - Dalarua - Don`T Hurry Me
4. Race: Le Bosphore - Al Nejmaa - On The Road Jack
5. Race: Goldikova - Dick Turpin - Byword
6. Race: Dunaden - Opinion Poll - Mashoor
7. Race: Montanaro - Mythomane - Law Blade
8. Race: Fannon Blue - Ziktat - Piccolo