26-04-2025
Small size but classy Ganay
On paper, a small field of only six runners may take the gloss off all the hype around the first French Group 1 feature of the year.
The 14 entries filed for the €300,000 (S$448,000) Prix Ganay a month ago had whetted racegoers' appetite for another exciting renewal of the 136-year-old race.
But even whittled down to the six who will face the starter at Longchamp on April 27 at 10.25pm Singapore time, the 2,100m contest still exudes quality, with an international flavour to boot.
The field will be split two ways into a classic France v UK match.
The trio crossing the English Channel, Royal Rhyme, Al Riffa and Higher Leaves, are smart with nine wins between them, but the market is already skewed towards a two-horse race from the home team: Map Of Stars and Sosie.
Defeated only once in six starts, the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Map Of Stars followed up his impressive Group 3 Prix Exbury (2,000m) at Saint-Cloud at the first race of his 2025 campaign on March 16 with a facile victory in the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt (2,000m) at Longchamp three weeks later.
Both wins were forged in equally downsized fields, but the Sea The Stars entire is a deserving favourite, nonetheless. Ace jockey Mickael Barzalona steps into the irons.
On the other hand, Sosie - also an entire by Sea The Stars - is a touch more proven at the highest level, even if he boasts only one run more than Map Of Stars.
After landing the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris (2,400m) and Group 2 Prix Niel (2,400m), he started favourite in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2,400m) in October, running fourth to Bluestocking.
The Wertheimers' four-time winner is, however, making his racing comeback, as opposed to his main rival who is fully wound-up.
But it may be costly to underestimate Andre Fabre's savoir-faire. The French master trainer would know better than to run an underdone horse, more so in a race he holds the record of seven wins.
Another Frenchman on the Prix Ganay honour roll, jockey-turned-trainer Gerald Mosse, will not add to his three wins as a rider, though.
Not as a trainer (licensed since October) either as he only fields runners in two races on the undercard, including Grand Stars, the first of his 15 winners - in the Listed Prix Solitude - in his new role.
But Mosse sure has the racing brain that can be picked over what kind of horse it takes to win a race often tagged as an Arc rehearsal.
Better remembered at Kranji for his second place on Jim And Tonic in Ouzo's inaugural Singapore Airlines International Cup win in 2000, and the winner of 11 races in 2016 and 2017, Mosse, 58, went a little against the grain, though.
He is leaning towards the third French challenger, the Patrice Cottier-trained Horizon Dore, winner of the 2023 Group 2 Prix Dollar (1,950m) and runner-up to Map Of Stars in the Prix d'Harcourt.
"I really liked Horizon Dore's first-up race. He has a lot of potential," said Mosse. "Map Of Stars beat him, but he can get even.
"I rode against him when I was a jockey. He's a real racehorse and we haven't seen the end of him.
"Map Of Stars and Horizon Dore are the two best horses in the race."
That does not mean the winner of 90 Group 1s around the world, including 21 in Hong Kong, is ignoring the chances of the other four, including the Brits.
"The Prix Ganay is a very important race. At this early stage of the season, the horses in this line-up are champions in the making, who will meet many times during the year in the big races," said Mosse.
"It'll be a tough ask for Royal Rhythm first-up, even if he's a top horse. Al Riffa is also a nice horse, but a good track may not suit him.
"Don't rule Sosie out, even at his return, as he's a real champion."
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