With potential future stars Elbaz and Rose Bloom on show in the next hour, a 12-runner claimer over four furlongs doesn’t look the obvious place for my nap of the day!
The Prix de l’Express is the shortest race in France and the low draw bias for Chantilly sprints over the straight course is exaggerated. Over four furlongs, jockeys drawn middle to high don’t see the value in coming over to the near side as it’s too costly.
The first three home in the previous two editions were drawn 2-1-3 and 1-3-2 respectively. It makes sense to focus on those drawn very low today, although I respect the chances of Sofie Lanslots’ Koutsounakos who was placed in this in 2020 and 2021.
Amazon Prince is the confident selection, drawn in one and supplemented for this. He was fancied for a Quinte last month (8-1 for that despite a poor draw), where he showed great early speed once again but his effort petered out on the ‘wrong’ side of the track. He won’t have had a hard race and looks really hard to beat in this grade, given his gate speed and plum draw. Described by his trainer as a ‘pure sprinter’, he should love this new trip and I don’t think there’s any danger of his regular rider Cristian Demuro holding him up for a late run!
With at least half the field seemingly drawn out of this, I think he rates as an attractive each-way bet. For exotics, I’ll be throwing in Koutsounakos and Gamgoom from middle draws.
3.07pm Chantilly – 1.5pt each-way Amazon Prince @ 5-1 (Sky Bet, Betfair Sportsbook and Paddy Power, or generally 9/2)
