Sunday 14 May 2017 11:06, UK
Jean-Claude Rouget's Zelzal, winner of the Prix Jean Prat last year but one of the horses affected by the virus at Jean-Claude Rouget's yard, is on course to return to action in June.
Owned by Al Shaqab Racing, he went on to finish third in the Prix du Moulin and looked set for a big season until one of Rouget's stables was hit badly by an outbreak of EHV-1, which attacks the nervous system.
With Al Shaqab having one top-notch miler based in the UK in the shape of Galileo Gold, it seems logical that Zelzal will be campaigned in France.
Harry Herbert, Al Shaqab's racing manager, said: "Zelzal was the first to be infected and thankfully he was the first to get over it and Jean-Claude says he is in very good form now, and if all goes according to plan, he will run in June. He will possibly be one of the first from that stable to get back on track.
"We have Galileo Gold next Saturday (in the Lockinge), so we will just see where we stand. I suspect we will see him stay in France for his next run.
"Mekhtaal (second to Cloth Of Stars in the Prix d'Harcourt) was infected slightly after Zelzal but he is a grand horse and I'm not sure where we will go next with him, but he is fine."
