Pao Alto jumps into French Derby reckoning after emphatic trial success

Pao Alto shot into the French Derby picture after showing a scintillating turn of foot to land the Group 3 Prix La Force, a key Classic trial, in convincing fashion.

Under French champion jockey Maxime Guyon, Pao Alto always travelled with ease in a midfield position and quickened well as they entered the straight, where he burst into a comfortable lead for an authoritative success.

It was Pao Alto's third win from four starts, having won a Longchamp maiden and a Listed event at Bordeaux last year. Coral make him 6-1 joint-favourite with Victor Ludorum for the Prix du Jockey Club while Paddy Power cut him into 7-1 (from 20-1).

Andre Fabre's Ocean Atlantique finished second and Chachnak took third position. Mkfancy, winner of the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud last season, finished last of the six runners.

Winning trainer Christophe Ferland said: "He had enough work behind him to run well on his comeback, but of course today wasn't the main objective.

"He's done it very well and he's a lot calmer than he was last year. He showed a nice change of gear and I hope we can keep him progressing all the way until the start of July [the Prix du Jockey Club]. He will stay the 2,100m at Chantilly.

"There's no definite plan before that, today was as far as we had thought about. He was a sick horse last autumn, I gave him lots of time to recover and he's thanked us for it today."

The winner was a late withdrawal from the Group 1 landed by Mkfancy last October and was subsequently found to suffering from a virus.

Guyon was impressed with Pao Alto, a son of Wertheimer et Frere's 2013 Jockey Club winner Intello.

"We always felt he would stay a bit further than the mile of his Listed win on heavy ground last year and the going has dried out quite a bit here, so he's a horse hat adapts well to anything," said Guyon. "They went a good even gallop and I had a lovely spot one of the rail in the second rank. He picked up well and I wasn't hard on him."

The Prix du Jockey Club forms part of a huge weekend of Classic action, as it will be run on the same July 5 Chantilly card as the Prix de Diane, 24 hours after the Investec Derby and Oaks double-header at Epsom.

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