Postcard From Paris: big days are when the lack of a crowd will really hit home
Scott Burton says Classics behind closed doors are a very different beast
The revised racing calendar in France allowed far more bedding-in time before the serious stuff got going than is set to be the case in Britain and Ireland.
The first three weeks began with a blitz of Group-race trials and, while there were plenty of very highly rated horses on show, no career-defining prizes were up for grabs.
That changed at Deauville on Monday as the two Poules d'Essai were run, featuring a stellar return to form for Victor Ludorum in the colts' Classic and a desperate bob of the heads to crown Dream And Do the winner of the Pouliches.
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