Three horses to note on Thursday at Deauville and Le Lion-d'Angers

Merci Mille Fois
11.10 Deauville

High Celebrity was briefly a leading fancy for the 1,000 Guineas back in 2015, having finished placed in both the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and the Cheveley Park Stakes for Andre Fabre at two.

Physical issues meant she never made the track again at three but her first offspring, the Galileo filly Merci Mille Fois, made quite an impression when narrowly beaten in what is traditionally one of the hottest newcomers' races of the Paris autumn.

To say she failed to build on that effort in two further starts in September would be something of an understatement but if that debut performance was not the limit of her ability, she remains a filly of some interest.

On the formbook both Moasa and Ceinture Noire achieved marginally more, while Aquitaine ran in the same Longchamp maiden in which Merci Mille Fois was second, a race which has been boosted considerably by the performance earlier this week of fourth-placed Solsticia.

Talap
11.40 Deauville

The colts and geldings that take to the track for their maiden half an hour later are headed by Talap, who ran five times for Roger Varian as a two-year-old.

Nurlan Bizakov's homebred came closest to winning when just worried out of a Windsor nursery on soft ground, while the form of his third-placed effort at Redcar behind Convict is also worth noting.

Talap has been gelded and sent to Francis Graffard in Chantilly, a trainer who has done well with horses sent from the hustle and bustle of Newmarket.

Bawina was very nearly top class over a mile for the Wertheimer brothers and her son Flash Dancer will also be worth watching.

Already in receipt of a 2lb allowance as the only debutant in the field, Flash Dancer also has another 5lb off his back as Fabre has elected to put up apprentice Hugo Besnier in preference to the Wertheimers' retained rider, Maxime Guyon.

Utah De La Coquais
5.30 Le Lion-d'Angers

If you have never seen the self-styled 'World's Longest Race' – the Anjou Loire Challenge – then it will be well worth tuning in for the only one of the ten races on the card to feature Le Lion's unique cross-country layout.

Utah De La Coquais is a veteran of such events, though remarkably the 12-year-old has never tackled the full cross-country course here.

He was second in a Listed chase at the track back in 2015 on his most recent visit, while trainer Eric Leray sent him to the Cheltenham Festival the following March for the cross-country chase there.

A track that twists through the forest and up and down the infamous 'Piano' steps, Utah De La Coquais should be one of the more adept runners at negotiating this unique challenge.

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