Prix du Moulin: Coroebus's prep 'faultless' as Classic hero bids to bounce back

Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1) | 3yo+ | 1m | Sky

Coroebus is on a retrieval mission as he returns to France just three weeks after a disappointing run in the Prix Jacques le Marois.

Charlie Appleby’s 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes winner was five and a quarter lengths behind Inspiral that day, finishing only fifth with the reopposing Order Of Australia among those in front of him.

Given he has advantages of 4lb and 6lb respectively over nearest rivals Order Of Australia and The Revenant (using BHA marks for British and Irish runners and France Galop ratings for the domestic challengers) once weight-for-age is taken into account, Coroebus is clearly the one to beat should he bounce back and perform to the expected level.

Furthermore, he travelled like a possible winner at Deauville and might have been showing signs of rust when the expected kick failed to materialise.

Coroebus: has won the 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes this seasonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Yet the questions surrounding Coroebus don’t relate solely to that tame finish. Although it would be difficult to precision engineer a race less to his tastes, his success in the St James's Palace looked a step down on his Guineas win.

The reopposing Lusail has not entirely upheld the form, his third in the Prix Jean Prat followed by a fairly lifeless effort in the Lennox Stakes, while Maljoom has not been seen since. Coroebus’s official mark of 121 is bang on the number it has taken to win this race in three of the last ten years (including by Baaeed 12 months ago), while on five more occasions it would not have sufficed.

Put another way, if Coroebus runs to his current career-high level, he would have been guaranteed winning only two of the last ten Moulins.

The counter-argument is that Coroebus can not only be expected to improve hugely on his comeback effort, but that the opposition ranged against him may not require him to do so.

Order Of Australia and The Revenant have questions of their own to answer. The Revenant is coming back from a layoff dating back to April and will not have his ideal soft conditions, while Order Of Australia has twice underperformed since posting a career-best RPR three starts ago in the Minstrel Stakes and is undeniably a hard horse to catch right.

Dreamloper has not finished off strongly in two attempts at a mile and a quarter and having won a Group 1 here in the spring over 1m1f, looks worth a try back at a mile.

Among the three-year-olds, the course-and-distance form of both Mangoustine and Texas has taken a few direct and indirect knocks and it might be that the Goodwood winner, Rocchigiani, has the pace to trouble the places.

The X-factor in the line-up is God Blessing, who has the lowest rating on offer as a function of never having run at above Listed level. But his shrewd trainer has always thought highly of him and there was much to like about his win last month in Deauville.

'Coroebus has been faultless'

Charlie Appleby will hope this visit to France proves more fruitful as Coroebus bids to bounce back from his defeat at Deauville.

"The Jacques le Marois was a strange race to watch," said Appleby, who is bidding for his first success in the Group 1. "I think they covered the first five furlongs in under a minute. Our plan was to drop in, but William [Buick] didn't mean to be quite so detached from the main body of the field.

"Two furlongs out I thought we were an odds-on shot but he worked so hard to get from the position he was in that maybe it took its toll in the final furlong. That's what I put it down to.

"He has been faultless coming into the weekend and I'm pleased the ground won't be as quick as it was at Deauville, where I think it was too quick for him."

The Revenant: winner of the 2020 Queen Elizabeth II StakesCredit: Mark Cranham

Coroebus will likely be a short-priced favourite and the market suggests his chief danger will be The Revenant, who landed the 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot for Francis Graffard.

The seven-year-old finished fourth behind Baaeed in the same race last season and bids for his hat-trick after back-to-back victories at Saint-Cloud, including in the Group 3 Prix Edmond Blanc last time.

"He's very well," said Graffard. "Obviously, I'd like a little of the forecast rain to arrive for him, but he has done plenty of work."

What they say

Ed Walker, trainer of Dreamloper
She's in good form and has already beaten the colts at Longchamp this season. The race didn't appear to have too much strength in depth outside of Coroebus and we were tempted to have a crack.

Carlos Laffon-Parias, trainer of Goldistyle
She is very well but the other day she ran against only fillies and mares and it will be much harder to win against the colts. If she is placed we'll be happy.

Damien de Watrigant, trainer of God Blessing
After his Listed win we considered running him again in Deauville, so he stayed up in Normandy for a couple of weeks and he did very well for his time up there. The Moulin is obviously a much higher level than he has been running at. But we still don't know how good our horse is and he won without being in top gear last time. He seems more settled and good to soft like they had on Thursday would suit him fine, while he is drawn well in stall four.

Mikel Delzangles, trainer of Mangoustine
She's doing well. It's obviously a competitive field, but she loves the track and should run a good race.

Peter Schiergen, trainer of Rocchigiani
"He has now won two Group 3s and I think he has improved since his last race. If he is placed we'll be very happy."

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