Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud: Full runner guide and expert verdict for Saturday's Group One on Sky Sports Racing
Westover faces four rivals in Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Saturday with stablemate Malabu Drive sent over to act as a pacemaker for former Irish Derby hero; watch the Group One contest live on Sky Sports Racing at 3.55pm
Friday 7 July 2023 16:28, UK
Senior form analyst Jamie Lynch analyses the five contenders for Saturday’s Group One Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, live on Sky Sports Racing.
Over a century old, but essentially on the back burner of the French Group One hotplate, the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (3.55) came back into sharp focus last year courtesy of Alpinista, for her race-record time and the fact it was the fourth in her sequence of six straight Group Ones, with the last coming in the Arc.
This edition is lighter than last year's but there are subplots in the sequels, in the sense that several have already met at different points this year, all of which point to Westover being in pole position, but just how bankable is he?
- Weekend Winners: Paddington vs Emily Upjohn in Coral-Eclipse showdown
- Hollie Doyle blog: Six chances to strike at Sandown on Coral-Eclipse day
Let's have a look at the five-runner field…
1 - Zagrey
Jockey: Christophe Soumillon; Trainer: Yann Barberot
He's got two-and-a-quarter lengths to make up on Westover from when they were second and third in the jetwash of the world's best, Equinox, in the Sheema Classic, but Zagrey was closer to the winner's white heat through the race.
It was his first go at a mile-and-a-half so there are at least reasons for thinking that we haven't yet seen the very best of Yann Barberot's four-year-old, who's had a three-month break since Dubai.
He has a happy habit of pushing up his rating every start and the only time in the last 15 months that he has been beaten at home in France was on this day last year when he ran My Prospero to half a length in the Prix Eugene Adam, either side of which he won small-field, tactical races - albeit only at Listed level.
He has been showing the qualities of variation and acceleration which will be useful assets, as will Christophe Soumillon's skill and strategy.
2 - Malabu Drive
Dougie Costello; Ralph Beckett
Juddmonte have transferred him from Ger Lyons to Ralph Beckett for seemingly one reason only; to service the needs of Westover and act as his pacemaker. Malabu Drive is only a mid-80s handicapper but, in a race as thin as this, that should be enough to give Westover the tow he needs until the home straight.
3 - Westover
Rob Hornby; Ralph Beckett
In the last update of the Longines World Thoroughbred Rankings, in mid-June, Westover was rated as the joint-fifth-highest British-trained horse.
One of those above him, needless to say, is Emily Upjohn, after she shot by him at the critical point of the Coronation Cup, with a sub-par Tunnes well adrift in fourth, while atop the global ratings is the Japanese juggernaut Equinox, whom Westover had chased home (one place ahead of Zagrey) in the Sheema Classic in March.
He's going to be short, very short, because all the evidence points that way, but what's the tipping point for an uncomfortably short horse who has been beaten more than double the times than he's won, and who can be highly strung?
That's up to you, but on the plus side, what really helps him here is the gift of a pacemaker, with new arrival Malabu Drive. Think back to the most impressive Westover has ever been, with his seven-length romp in the Irish Derby, in which he effectively used the front-running French Claim as a servicing pacemaker, a platform for him to power up.
If he uses Malabu Drive in the same way, and slipstreams him before exploding in the straight, basically taking tactics out of it, then he's probably a 1/3 shot.
4 - Tunnes
Rene Piechulek; Peter Schiergen
The softer the ground the better for him, remembering he was a 10-length winner of the German St Leger on heavy last November, and the fast going was likely, at least in part, behind his sub-standard showing in the Coronation Cup, when 15/2 against the 5/2 favourite Westover.
He can definitely play in this sort of league at his best, though his best seems conditional, and the drying ground at Saint-Cloud probably puts paid to his chance, as simple as that. One point to raise is that for his signature display, in the Grosser Preis von Bayern, he did it from the front, so he could conceivably upset any pre-race plans from the Juddmonte team.
5 - Junko
Maxime Guyon; Andre Fabre
He's sticking with the programme by contesting the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, which says something of André Fabre's faith, but the fact is that his career has stalled this year, ever since he signed off last season on such a positive note by running Anmaat to a head in the Prix Dollar, a clear contrast with how he trailed in last behind that same rival in the Prix d'Ispahan on his most recent start.
He's trying this trip for the first time and there's an outside chance it's what he's wanted all along, while it may also be to his advantage that he'll be ridden cold, to pick up any pieces, as the presence of a pacemaker can, and sometimes does, draw the bigger guns into early engagement.
Jamie Lynch's verdict…
There's a very clear and conspicuous bottom line to this year's Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, which is that it's WESTOVER's race to lose, and a servicing stablemate in Malabu Drive makes it harder still for him to lose it, given he has already finished ahead of two of his other three rivals this year.
It may be worth risking Junko for the forecast, as both the different trip and the race flow could help him stage a revival.
Watch the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud live on Sky Sports Racing (Sky 415 | Virgin 519) on Saturday July 8.
