Christophe Soumillon holds on to win first turf Group race of 2022

Saturday: Saint-Cloud

Pretty Tiger renewed his love affair for Saint-Cloud and secured the first European Group race on turf of the year under Christophe Soumillon, holding off Hurricane Dream and the fast-finishing Skalleti in the Group 3 Prix Exbury.

In doing so the four-year-old son of Sea The Moon continued the good form of Fabrice Vermeulen, who continues to saddle runners pending an appeal against a six month ban for falsifying invoices.

Pretty Tiger enjoyed a confidence-boosting win in the Listed Grand Prix de la Riviera at Cagnes last month and Soumillon revealed afterwards he was delighted to see Il Decamerone and Dawn Intello ensure a decent pace up front.

"I knew he had a big chance today and we knew he would be much happier on good to soft turf as opposed to the all-weather, and that he had progressed a lot from his last run," said Soumillon, who has made a rapid start to the year and already has 70 winners at remarkable 41 per cent strike-rate.

Prix Exbury: full result

"I didn't quite know how the race would play out and I could have followed the leaders. But they really got on with it up front and his owner [Bernard Giraudon] wanted me to cover him up so I did my best to follow his orders."

Maxime Guyon waited with Skalleti in last place and had six or seven lengths to find turning in on ground quicker than last season's Prix d'Ispahan hero would have ideally preferred.

In the circumstances trainer Jerome Reynier was more than satisfied.

"I'm really pleased with the run," said Reynier. "It's not his favourite ground and he was a fair way back. He really picked up well and then ran on all the way to the line.

"We'll hope for a bit more rain in the Paris region and aim to bring him back to Longchamp for the Prix d'Harcourt. This was a good pointer for the future and the main thing is to keep him happy and healthy.

"He's seven and there will come a moment when he starts to slow down but on this evidence I hope we can look forward to another good year."

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