A few informative maidens at ParisLongchamp today but the feature race will be the Prix du Conseil de Paris at 2.50pm UK time.
Connections of Junko are only too happy to sell their older horses but the fact they have kept the son of Intello in training and travelled with him tells you they think he can land a Group One. Experts of the clock were raving about his March reppearance at Chantilly but were left a little underwhelmed when he could only manage sixth in the Group One Dubai Turf.
He certainly looks back on track and I thought his Deauville win in August was one of the highlights of the meeting. He has a stiffer task against Iresine today but I think he’ll be near the peak of his powers, as Andre Fabre has already mentioned the Breeders Cup Turf for Junko. He’s got a brilliant turn of foot, two of his best performances were at Longchamp and Maxime Guyon is riding at another level this month (7 winners from his last 17).
As for favourite Iresine, he’s obviously a wonderful horse and deserves to be favourite. His only career run worthy of his current French rating was the Prix Ganay in my view, and April feels like an awfully long time ago now. Jockey Marie Velon has been faultless on the son of Manduro, but is error-prone. The Gauvin yard has certainly had better seasons and you have to go back to June for the last time they won a race worth more than €10k to the winner.
Junko rates as a cracking each-way bet at 7/2.
2.50pm Longchamp – 1.5pt each-way Junko @ 7/2 (generally available, or 4-1 with bet365)
