By Tom Frary
Ahead of the weekend's thrillers, Thursday offers the warm-up with the G3 Prix des Chenes and G3 Prix d'Aumale acting as stepping stones for the major 2-year-old contests of the autumn. Fabre's 10 wins in the Chenes and six in the d'Aumale mean that his representation has to be taken seriously and the former, which is restricted to the males of the generation, sees him saddle Baron Edouard De Rothschild's TDN Rising Star Alcantor (Fr) (New Bay {GB}). Taking on Julien Dubois and Jean-Philippe Dubois' G3 Prix Francois Boutin winner Grey Man (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the homebred who looked cut from Classic cloth on his Saint-Cloud debut is unbeaten at seven furlongs or further with his only blip coming over an inadequate six at Chantilly in July.
In the d'Aumale, Mlle Moliere (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) steps up to the plate for De Rothschild and Ecurie Skymarc Farm and the master of Chantilly. She was impressive when doubling her tally in Deauville's 7 1/2-furlong Prix du Mezeray conditions event at last month's festival and is one of five of the seven fillies holding unbeaten records. They include Shadwell's Alshinfarah (Ire) (Noble Mission), who has won at Doncaster and Haydock and accounted for the impressive subsequent winner Remaadd (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) in the latter contest.
Trainer Kevin Philippart De Foy is hoping for a bold show from the half-sibling of the classy Raabihah (Sea The Stars {Ire}) moving up to a mile. “The family stayed much further and her half-sister ran over a mile and a half in the Arc,” he said. “Noble Mission stayed further as well, so I'm not worried about running over a mile and the ground should suit her. She travelled over there well and it will be interesting to see her against a stronger field.”
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