Parislongchamp Preview - 24/05/21

Prix Saint-Alary day at Parislongchamp kicks off with the Listed De Pontarme Stakes and we’ve gone for the Barzalona, Fabre and Godolphin charge of ERASMO.

Third on debut over 6f at Deauville in July of last year, the half brother to multiple Group 1 winner Reckless Abandon cherished the step up to 7f landing back to back victories over the distance at the back end of last year.

He’s failed to deliver on his two starts in 2021 so far over 1m 1f and most recently over this 7f distance however he’s been running at a much higher level than most of his rivals here and a repeat performance of his second last time out over this C&D should be enough to see him first past the post in this race.

The Group 2 Prix Hocquart Stakes is notoriously a competitive affair and in this years renewal we’ve taken a real liking to Frederic Rossi’s unbeaten Al Shaqab gelding CALGARY.

A winner at Marseille at the end of last year, he’s improved leaps and bounds in 2021 winning at Marseille once again in March and then putting in his best performance to date at Lyon.

Held up in second throughout the race, he travelled into it beautifully to win with hands and heels by two lengths.

This is a step up in class but he’s already shown that he’s got the minerals to perform on this sort of ground and if progressing once again, he’s going to take a heck of a lot of beating.

Now for the main event, the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary Stakes and we’re sticking with a horse that we’ve followed since debut and that’s the Carlos Laffon-Parias trained Frankel filly RUMI.

She made an eye catching debut at this course when flying home down the outside to win by a length back in October, seemingly with plenty in hand.

Things didn’t however go to plan on her first start of 2021. Stepped up to the extended 1m 2f distance, she was never really in the race but she showed that was just a bad day at the office when ridden prominently over 1m 1f last time out to stay on superbly to get the victory.

She’s clearly a horse with plenty of class and going off how much improvement she showed last time out to win a Group 3, it’s hard to back against her if she’s in the mood once again in a much more competitive race.

The second and final Listed affair at Parislongchamp tomorrow sees 10 go to post in the De Montretout Stakes.

A seemingly wide open Listed affair, the horse that stands out to us is the Pascal Bary trained HURRICANE CLOUD.

Three wins from six outings so far in his career, he was delivered to perfection last time out when winning over the extended mile here by three lengths.

The form has been franked and having beaten a couple of his rivals today in that race, he should be there or thereabouts once again.

It’s the battle of some of the best stayers in Europe to bring the curtain down on an action packed day at Parislongchamp with the Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier Stakes and we’ve picked out the Alain de Royer-Dupré trained VALIA as the one to beat.

A simply breathtaking debut season in 2020, she picked up three wins from six starts including Listed and Group 2 glory and a place behind Subjectivist in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak Stakes.

The speed of the race and the deteriorating ground probably caught her out on that occasion but now on her first start of 2021 and proven to run fresh, she could make a proper statement against some nice types here.