By Tom Frary
With Europe's leading stayers either having taken part in Champions Day or roughed off for the season, Sunday's G1 Prix Royal-Oak at ParisLongchamp has a wide-open feel with only the Wertheimers' Double Major (Ire) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) holding any kind of mystique. Successful in the track's G2 Prix Chaudenay on Arc weekend, the Christophe Ferland-trained 3-year-old has considerable upside taking on established marathon specialists in a race that has seen his age group prevail in five of the last eight renewals and three of the last four.
With the likes of the G2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil winner The Good Man (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}), the Cesarewitch H. third Tashkhan (Ire) (Born To Sea {Ire}) and dual listed winner Al Nayyir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Double Major will have to be every bit as progressive as he looked earlier this month, but as a relative of the likes of Plumania (GB) (Anabaa) and Left Hand (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) the pedigree gives him a big leg-up.
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