'The dream is there' - Guineas entries test their credentials at Deauville

There are currently just two French entries for the Qipco-sponsored 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas, and both are in action at Deauville on Thursday.

Belbek brings Group 1-winning form to the Prix Djebel (2pm Sky), having proved his effectiveness over seven furlongs when storming home in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp on Arc day. 

Trainer Andre Fabre has always treated both the Djebel and its sister race for fillies, the Prix Imprudence, as a means to an end and, while 1995 2,000 Guineas winner Pennekamp completed the double, Newmarket winners Zafonic and Miss France were both beaten in their trial when these races were run at Maisons-Laffitte.

Belbek begins an important few weeks for the Classic hopes of owner-breeder Nurlan Bizakov, whose unbeaten Padishakh runs in the Group 3 Prix la Force on Sunday for Jean-Claude Rouget, while Charyn and Kolsai could both be in action for Roger Varian later in the month.

"We saw Belbek in the yard the other day and he's a lovely specimen of a horse and has matured," said Bizakov's racing and breeding manager Tony Fry. "He has filled out but he's not been fully wound up at the moment. I'm sure Monsieur Fabre knows when to wind him up and for what race. The dream is still there for at least another day."

Belbek, who also holds an entry for the Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains at Longchamp, will reoppose Breizh Sky, who finished half a length behind him when third in the Lagardere, before both he and Group 3 winner Kubrick ended up getting stuck in the Saint-Cloud mud in the Criterium International.

Aidan O'Brien was a major presence across France's two-year-old programme last season and that looks like continuing now that generation has turned three. Beginnings, a daughter of dual 1,000 Guineas heroine Winter by Almond Eye's sire Lord Kanaloa, and Ryan Moore will face 13 rivals in the Imprudence (3.10pm Sky). 

Beginnings lost her maiden tag by six lengths at Dundalk in November and O'Brien said at Leopardstown on Wednesday: "She's well and the better the ground the better it will suit. I believe the ground is not bad, better than it is here. We're trying to split them up. She's ready to run, so we'll know more about her after that." 

The sole Fabre-trained entry for the 1,000 Guineas, Spirit Gal, also brings an Irish flavour to the race, having been trained by Willie Browne throughout her two-year-old season.

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