Final decs

Foy
1    st nicholas abbey SOUMILLON 
2    hiruno d'amour FUJITA   
3    nakayama festa NINOMIYA   
4    sarafina  LEMAIRE   

Niel
1    vadamar LEMAIRE
2    king of arnor BOUDOT
3    meandre GUYON
4    nakayama knight NINOMIYA
5    colombian BUICK
6    reliable man MOSSE

Vermeille
1    sarah lynx DETTORI
2    shareta LEMAIRE
3    testosterone PASQUIER
4    wavering BARZALONA
5    wonder of wonders SOUMILLON     
6    galikova PESLIER

Alain de Royer-Dupre has warned Sarafina is not at the peak of her powers ahead of Sunday's Qatar Prix Foy at Longchamp.

The four-year-old was an unlucky third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe over course and distance last October, and Europe's premier middle-distance prize is firmly on her agenda again.

She has done nothing wrong so far this year, building on an encouraging comeback second to Planteur with two successes at Saint-Cloud.

But the latest of those victories, in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, was back in June, and her trainer believes his his star filly will improve significantly for this weekend's run.

"She is OK, but this is only preparation for the big race and she is not at her peak fitness," warned Royer-Dupre.

"I have been very happy with her this season and she has had a nice break since her last run at Saint-Cloud.

"She is in good form but she always needs her first run after a break, so I would expect her to improve. This is a trial."

Just four runners go to post, with Aidan O'Brien's St Nicholas Abbey joined by Japanese-trained pair of Hiruno D'Amour and last year's Arc runner-up Nakayama Festa.

Shingo Soma, from the Japan Racing Association, said: "Both horses had their final preparations for the trial in Chantilly and their trainers are very happy.

"Mitsugu Kon says Hiruno D'Amour is in very good condition and he worked with his training partner last Wednesday.

"Everything went very well and his connections are expecting a big run.

"Nakayama Festa was due to work last Wednesday also but his trainer Yoshitaka Ninomiya said the horse got a little excited, so he went somewhere else to work on his own.

"But Mr Ninomiya says he is very happy with the horse's preparation, so hopefully he will run well."

Galikova aims to open her account at the highest level and book her place in the Arc field in the Qatar Prix Vermeille.

Although narrowly beaten when favourite for the Prix de Diane, Freddie Head's filly oozed class when scoring at Deauville last time.

"I hope she can run well and I hope she can win, but it is a good race," said Head.

"It was a very good performance from her in Deauville and her preparation has gone very well since. Everything is fine.

"I think she will get the distance well and the ground should not be a problem, so we will see what happens.

"If she can win, then the Arc would be a possibility, of course."

Royer-Dupre is represented in the Vermeille by recent Deauville winner Shareta, but he believes Galikova is likely to prove too strong.

He said: "She is in very good condition and has done well this season, but this is very difficult competition.

"I hope she can run well but Galikova is going to be very difficult to beat."

Six runners have been declared for the Vermeille, with Wonder Of Wonders representing O'Brien.

The third major trial is the Qatar Prix Niel, in which Andre Fabre's Grand Prix de Paris winner Meandre takes top billing.

Fabre has trained seven previous winners of the Arc and with Epsom Derby hero Pour Moi now retired, Meandre looks to be his major hope for this year's renewal.

Fabre also saddles King Of Arnor in the Niel, while Royer-Dupre is represented by Reliable Man and Vadamar.

He said: "Reliable Man is very well and I hope he can run a good race and Vadamar is coming back from a break.

"The ground was too firm for him when he ran in the Epsom Derby and I hope there is more rain for him."

Completing a six-runner field is John Gosden's Colombian and the third potential Arc runner for Japan, Nakayama Knight.

'somewhere'

Paris-Turf says soft, Racing Post good-soft, zeturf good. Take your pick. Could easily be good-firm.

It's disappointing that Goldikova and Immortal Verse aren't running as I was looking forward to a tasty price on Excelebration, nevertheless, I make him an odds chance here so he's well worth a bet. Clocked a huge speed figure from me in the Hungerford, only Frankel has recorded better this season, if he's in the same form today the others don't have a chance.

i still think SNA has a chance,or is he just ungenuine?looks to have bundles of ability without showing us

Nakayama should drop in class for the Prix Dollar...dont expect him to win. SNA should just head straight to Canada for the International and then the BC Turf. There'll be a few too good for him in the Arc. Had the run today and still lost.

*been

Reliable Man in the box seat all the way. first run on Meandre. interesting.

The owner of Meandre has said the Fabre yard has had a virus recently..

re Sarafina, hard not to be impressed, she won under hands and heels. But I dont see why stan  james have gone 5/2. 4/1 is about right. And I think some of these french jockeys are overrated big time. Lemaire was very luck there today.

well done Figgis with Excellebration. Top price this morning was 7/4 with PP's. PMU was 5.0!!

Qatar Prix Niel (Group 2) 1m4f, 3yo colts & fillies

THE Prix du Jockey Club winner Reliable Man bounced back to his best as he comprehensively beat his Grand Prix de Parisconqueror Meandre to give trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre a quickfire double following Sarafina's success in the Prix Foy.

Reliable Man is entered in the Arc and will now try and become the 12th Niel winner to go on and land the big one since this race became exclusive to the Classic generation in 1955.

Paddy Power chopped the winner's price into 7-1 from 16-1 for the Qatar-sponsored Arc, which takes place on October 2.


Royer Dupre said: "Theground was too firm for him in the Grand Prix de Paris and he didn't come down the hill well. He came with a good run here and has the action of a top horse."

Meandre only just held on for second from the winner's stablemate Vadamar. The John Gosden-trained Colombian ran to form to finish fourth.

Meandre, who does not hold an Arc entry, was sent off favourite to confirm form with theFrench Derby winner from their meeting over course and distance here in July, but he was comprehensively beaten by Reliable Man, who was ridden more prominently than he had been in the Grand Prix.

The change of tactic paid dividends as the 3-5 favourite simply could not get near him once winning rider Gerald Mosse pressed the button on the Dalakhani colt.

Meandre part-owner Edouard de Rothschild said: "We know Andre Fabre had a virus in the stable and Meandre was in the box next door and ran a temperature a couple of weeks ago and missed a gallop.

"It was also a very slowly run race and it was mildly disappointing. We'll see how he eats after this and make a decision after."

The Aga Khan's Vadamar ran an eyecatching race in third. He is entered for the Arc, but it sounds unlikely he will take his chance.

"Vadamar ran very well and will go for the Prix du Conseil de Paris two weeks afterthe Arc," said Royer-Dupre.

Probably shift Vadamar's attention to the Hong Kong Vase. Aga Khan always plots 1 or 2 good wons for that.

Galikova looked good there....kicking off a slow pace on very soft ground. nice.

Impressive, though.

Sarafina squeezed through a small gap to win the Qatar Prix Foy at Longchamp.

Christophe Lemaire settled last year's Arc third in last place as Nakayama Festa set a generous early pace.

The pair were still last of the quartet as St Nicholas Abbey joined issue with the leader over two furlongs out and Hiruno D'Amour made his bid for glory at the same time as the favourite.

It was very tight for Sarafina who showed a neat turn of foot to go to the front in the final 100 yards but she leant in on her rival to get a gap.

However the stewards allowed the result to stand after a short enquiry.

St Nicholas Abbey was back in third with the trailblazing Nakayama Festa last of four.

Sky Bet reacted by making Sarafina 7-2 favourite (from 4-1) to win the Arc next month.

The owner of the winner, the Aga Khan, said: "She's been very keen in her races before and the main thing we are trying to do is get her settled.

"She'd prefer a faster run race as they went quick early but then slowed down. It's always going to be a fast pace in the Arc.

"She's from a family that you have to wait a long time for, that's the nature of the game."

O'Brien said of St Nicholas Abbey, who finished third: "We're happy with him, he was fresh beforehand but he ran well. He'd have preferred a stronger pace.

"We came here with the idea of looking at the Arc and now we'll go home and digest it."

He added of So You Think, prominent in the betting for the Arc: "It's a way off still and it hasn't been decided whether he'll run in the Arc."

Nice of connections to mention a stable virus after Meandre's run.

I put on a few more quid pre race for the Arc but I probably wouldn't have bothered if I knew that info[>o]

Tbf he didn't run like there was anything wrong with him but imo that will be their excuse if they don't supplement him for the race

meandre still has a shout imo

if virus rumours are true that was a fair run

pulled quite hard early and wasnt given anything like a hard time at anypoint (fair enough in a trial)

the **** horse that finished second last season might be the massive priced one again? looked really unfit worryingly so and ran like a training run

Cheers bazzar, no one to blame but myself then

Might see if I can bag some tasty odds for him on here.