France has been given the green light to return to racing on Monday so we asked French racing expert Laurent Barbarin onto our From the Horse’s Mouth podcast to give us a steer on who could be passing the winning post first at Longchamp. He gave us three fancies for the three big feature races and we liked them so much we enhanced them as a treble.
Get on while stocks last, folks. Take it away, Laurent.
Prix De La Grotte – Khayzaraan @ 7/4
One of the three feature races on Monday is the Prix De La Grotte for fillies where Tropbeau heads the market from Khayzaran. Tropbeau has the arguably the best form heading into the race but Khayzaran will be very, very fit for her comeback race and trainer Freddie Head thinks a lot of her.
It looks a match to me and I prefer Khayzaraan who looks to have more scope for improvement than Tropbeau.
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Prix De Fontainebleau – Victor Ludorum @ 6/4
Victor Ludorum is odds-on for the Prix De Fontainebleau but that’s not surprising, as he’s the best horse in the race. He looks to be a very special horse in the making and I would be confident about his chance of winning.
He looks my best bet at Longchamp on Monday.
Helter Skelter finished fifth to him last year and could hit the places if improving on that run, while a little bigger in the market is Ecrivain and he could be the each-way play in the race. He’ll be ridden by Maxime Guyon and was fourth to Victor Ludorum at this track at the Prix de L’Arc meeting last October – just a neck ahead of Helter Skelter.
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Prix D’Harcourt – Sottass @ 8/13
Sottsass should take all the beating in the Prix D’Harcourt. I’m not a fan of taking short prices about runners in races like these though. If there’s one other runner who can cause an upset, its Shaman.
He was a god miler last year and actually beat Sottsass last April in the Prix la Force over 1m 1f. Sottsass, however, has improved since stepping up in trip and was rated Europe’s highest-rated three-year-old last season.
He rounded off the season by finishing third to Waldgeist in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over 1m 4f .
Laurent Barbarin’s treble has been enhanced to 8/1 (from 13/2):
Prix De La Grotte – Khayzaraan @ 7/4
Prix De Fontainebleau – Victor Ludorum @ 6/4
Prix D’Harcourt – Sottsass @ 8/13
*Ante post Prices & Power Prices quoted are correct at publishing on Friday but are subject to change.
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The latest International racing odds are on PP.com now