G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac

It was Francis-Henri Graffard celebrating after Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac which opened ParisLongchamp's Arc card, but not with the filly widely expected as Gemini Stud and Argella Racing's Vertical Blue (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}--Krunch {GB}, by Sea The Stars {Ire}) denied her much-vaunted stablemate Zarigana (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) in a pulsating finish. Last seen finishing second in Lyon-Parilly's Listed Criterium de Lyon over this mile trip last month, the 32-1 shot was settled in mid-pack early enjoying crucial cover as Ballydoyle's Exactly (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) cut out the running....

   Impressive in the G3 Flame of Tara S. at The Curragh in August, Opera Singer (Justify--Liscanna {Ire}, by Sadler's Wells) took it to another level on Sunday as she outclassed her contemporaries in ParisLongchamp's G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac, a GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf qualifying race. Stoked up from the break by Ryan Moore to enjoy a narrow lead from Darnation (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), the half-sister to War Front's top-level winners Hit It A Bomb and Brave Anna had that rival in trouble inside the...

After the success for Nurlan Bizakov in the Lagardere, it was the turn of another rising force in French breeding Yeguada Centurion to enjoy the limelight as Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) lit up ParisLongchamp in the G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland in November. Coming off a course-and-distance win in the G3 Prix d'Aumale Sept. 8, the Christopher Head trainee had the perfect tow in third as Aurelien Lemaitre contained her enthusiasm. Let loose...

Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac which opened ParisLongchamp's Arc fixture took place without TDN Rising Star and likely favourite Raclette (GB) (Frankel {GB}) after Andre Fabre opted to wait for Friday's G3 Oh So Sharp S. due to an excess of 20 millimetres of rain falling pre-racing. How Juddmonte's unbeaten daughter of Emollient (Empire Maker) would have coped with the very soft ground is an unknown, but her stablemate Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) handled it with aplomb to deny the 33-1 shot Times Square (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) in...

It is racing's greatest dichotomy. Labelled by the official ParisLongchamp website as "la meilleure course au monde", the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will have few who brook any argument with that claim. Yet it is the time of year within which it is framed that delivers the ultimate snag, with autumn's entry prompting an often drastic change in terrain and a late turnpike for the kings and queens of summer just past. Half of the previous 10 renewals of France's great monument have been run on testing...