Why the most heartwarming result of the weekend came at Deauville rather than Sandown

The Coral-Eclipse was probably the race of the season so far with the best three-year-old getting the better of a top-class older horse, but for me the most heartwarming result of the weekend came at Deauville when the French horses totally dominated the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat.

With not that many owner-breeders left in France and not too many world-class stallions standing there it's been a tough decade or so for French racing in terms of quality. However, this year there have been six Group 1s for three-year-olds run in France and the French have won them all turning away 19 British- and Irish-trained runners in the process. 

The more I watch Blue Rose Cen's performance in the Diane and Ace Impact's runaway win in the Jockey Club, the more I think they might be at least as good, if not superior, to the British Classic winners.

We have all got so used to the best French horses being inferior to the British and Irish that I think everyone might be underestimating how good their horses are this season.

Yes, Chaldean might have run below form at Deauville on Sunday but so did Charyn, Meditate and Hi Royal as well? That is stretching things to the extreme in my opinion and the first three home had all run with credit in the Pouliches and Poulians. Isn't it more likely that the French horses are simply better than ours this season and I for one love it.

Healthy competition between racing nations is good for everyone and while it's not like the French have been lagging miles behind, they just haven't been producing the superstar horses that used to light up the European racing scene in anything like the same numbers.

Blue Rose Cen: star for French racing

In Ace Impact and Blue Rose Cen they appear to have a couple of absolute gems that might easily be able to turn away the best the British and Irish have to offer in the Arc this Autumn.

I must admit I have been really slow in becoming a fully paid up member of the Ace Impact fan club. I was being really lazy when I first watched the race and presumed it wasn't that strong a contest but the more you watch it the better Ace Impact looks. He gave Big Rock a massive head-start and cut him down very quickly, hitting the line really hard in the process.

That was certainly a more impressive effort than the one Auguste Rodin put in at the Curragh recently and surely the Jockey Club had a lot more strength in depth to it than the race King Of Steel won at Royal Ascot. I will probably be in the minority but I think Ace Impact and Paddington stand out as the best middle distance colts and I would be pretty confident that Blue Rose Cen would beat any filly in Europe as well and that includes Soul Sister and Tahiyra.

Market moves must not be missed whatever the direction

There are lots of bad things about getting on a bit. The aches and pains are the worst and a diminishing tolerance level is another but in racing terms the one thing that really annoys me is when horses drift like a barge in the pre-race market, run miles below par and we all just move on as if nothing has ever happened.

There were loads of examples of this at Royal Ascot with Sakheer's lamentable performance being foretold in spades by the market and the world and his wife seemed to know that My Prospero had no chance of winning the Prince Of Wales's as well.

No one knew that in the lead up to those races, in fact Sakheer was nearly favourite for the Commonwealth Cup at one stage and I find it amazing that there are so few enquiries into why these big drifts happen.

The trainers usually state that they can't legislate for the poor runs but loads of punters can in the few minutes before the race. 

I used to think it was those who watched the paddock and how the horses went to post that caused these drifts as they had the last minute clues but anyone who saw Mostahdaf's pre-race antics before the Price Of Wales's wouldn't have had a single bean on him, yet he was very strong in the market late on.

Read more . . .

William Buick steps in for more Frankie Dettori rides on two big Group 1 fancies - including Kinross in July Cup   

'We have no intention of having a retained jockey' - John Gosden plays down Kieran Shoemark rumours after Soul Sister booking   

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