"We've decided to go to the Champagne Stakes with Rosallion," Hannon said. "It's a nice flat track for him and we didn't want to chuck him in a Group 1 race just yet. We want to give him a bit more experience before that.

"We always thought he was a good horse but we were really taken with the improvement he showed after his win at Newbury.

A clue or two there I suppose, looking back. Not exactly raving about him. Suspect that he has only shown that form once, ie not at home.

Some good points Cider especially regards Ascot and the stable. Betting has moved even further to the high liquidity much later in recent times. Of course late rain a couple of hours changes betting dramatically but in races like this the "early" action goes on rather a long time these days with loads of smaller players that aren't really ground dependent on their bets unless it's already soft/heavy WITH MORE RAIN FORECAST. With the latter situation the layers can get stuck in early. It wasn't clear cut enough here because the ground wasn't desperate and little/no more rain was forecast. So until very late when more bigger players on both sides got involved the price held up on a horse that was very good on figures/form. In the end there was highly likely doubt in trainer's mind with tacky ground whatever the going description and the bigger punters were not going to play at odds they surely would have on good or quicker.

Running in the Lagardere today. Certainly don't ordinarily enter and run in Longchamp on Arc weekend if seeking good or fast going. Times yesterday suggesting it's not bottomless, not sure how reliable the standards are on the new course in France. Trueshan certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Class performance

Good winner, came past the second who had the run of the race.

Yes that was more like the 'Ascot' Rosallion. I'm still not convinced that his monumental drift and soft defeat at Donny was due to the going. But the ground looked quick enough there today, visually anyway. According to LoS the jockeys were reporting it as the faster side of good yesterday.

Levey said: “I was always going to win today. He had his ground and that’s how good he is

“We always thought he was a good horse and the ground was the reason he ran like he did last time. We were worried about the draw and he’s done really well to win.

“I’ve always thought of him as a Guineas horse.”

A delighted Hannon said: “It was very sticky ground at Doncaster and he hated it, but I was so disappointed – I couldn’t believe he got beat. We scoped him afterwards and everything was fine and the only thing I can put it down to was the ground.

cider his drift at Donny was due to worries about the ground in the punters minds. He didn't drift that much because there was a chance the ground would dry up as there was little rain forecast. By the race day it was clear the ground was unlikely to be ideal but he's such a good horse nobody on here or anywhere else would lay fancy prices and he started 4/5.   Nowt else to it imo.

Today's sp suggests otherwise, as it should have been the reverse, and smashed in the market. Or are you claiming it would have gone off at circa 5-1 if it had been pulled out of Donny?

Notable also that nobody posted on this thread after I brought it back until after the result

And 6 hours afterwards

Hope you don't mind me saying Cider but I suspect you haven't made money from betting say the last 20 years. You think too much what other people are thinking and how other people are punting.   ( "Today's sp suggests otherwise / most people did not write that race off as down to unsuitable going".  )   
At York August Marhaba the champ won 8/1 ( 10/15 goodwood soft ) Silver Sword 15/2 ( 7/15 goodwood soft ) Warm Heart 9/1 ( 5/8 Curragh soft )

Cider you throw the dice. You don't know what any ground is until day of race and sometimes during racing. And courses have different soil /surfaces. Getting beat at say Ffos Las on soft wouldn't put me off running a horse at Catterick on soft. Donny can get sticky and it's sometimes sloppy at Longchamp and you get away with it.

In a similar way, they don't send ones who need cut over to the BC. Rosallion could easily have been boxed off until next year. I listen to what connections say, but in most cases it is useless. You do however, once in a while, get some useful gems.

We'll only see that tested if he runs on softish again. Today was run on unseasonably quick going.

Funnily enough I saw Hannon interviewed before the race and he said 'on the day, we blamed it on the going'. Which is an odd way of phrasing it.

Anyhow, let's see how the career goes, today was inclusive. If it comes up soft for the SJP for example, let's see if he is pulled out of the race.

He got stuck in the mud last time and drifted like a barge. He atoned big time today.

So if he never runs on soft again you were correct. Nice one.

He'll go for the 2000G. However, he'll not run if the ground is soft or worse, according to trainer.

It's not like you just turn up in France on the day. They decided to run a long time before it looked like it could turn up unseasonably quick.

I'm talking about when they declared. They did not know at that point it would be fast. Transport has to be booked, staff, travel, connections informed. If you want to be pedantic, they must have committed to run by the start of the week I would have thought.