Balios won like a Group 1 winner at Royal Ascot last month, and Abu Dhabi’s equine flag-bearer has the opportunity to prove he can win at the highest level tonight when he takes his chance in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp.
Balios will be joined in the 2,400-metre Bastille Day event by Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook’s Storm The Stars, who will be ridden by Pat Cosgrave.
They face a small, but select group at the Parisian course with Aidan O’Brien sending over the lightly raced Archangel Raphael and 13-time winning trainer Andre Fabre relying on Ampere. Erupt and Silverwave are the only other runners.
Balios cut down subsequent Group 3 winner Mr Singh in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, but when he got to the front he appeared to idle under Tuesday night’s jockey, Jamie Spencer.
It was a first win at Royal Ascot for Al Asayl, the Abu Dhabi-based operation, and should the son of dual French Classic winner Shamardal win tonight he would become their first thoroughbred Group 1 winner.
“He is a very fast horse and there will be no problems if Storm The Stars does not set a good pace,” trainer David Simcock said. “This is a step up for him.
“He’s an exciting horse for Al Asayl. He’s important to them and although they are very successful with Purebred Arabians, he is what I would call their first good thoroughbred.”
It was Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook who suggested the Grand Prix de Paris for Storm The Stars after the Irish Derby runner up came out of that Curragh race so well. It will be Storm The Stars’ sixth outing this term before he embarks on the trail for the St Leger, the final English Classic of the season. He clearly thrives on his racing, whereas this may well be only one of three more runs for Balios this campaign.
Another horse who has been heavily campaigned this season is Freddy Head’s Solow, who remains on course for the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in two weeks time.
The five-year-old grey has won all four of his engagements this year, including three Group 1s – the Dubai Turf in March, the Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp in May and the Queen Anne Stakes last month.
His clash with fellow multiple Group 1 winner Gleneagles is set to be one for the ages, especially with the possible inclusion of Godolphin’s Night Of Thunder, and trainer Head believes there will be no issues with Goodwood’s idiosyncratic switchback track.
“He is a very handy horse, he’s a very easy ride and I don’t think it will be a problem,” he said yesterday through a conference call at the launch of the Qatar-backed Goodwood Festival.
“He is very well and he is very happy.”
Over in America, California Chrome has suffered a leg injury and will not race again this season.
Last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes hero was set to run at Royal Ascot last month but skipped the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes due to a foot abscess.
He was set to contest the Arlington Million but has bruised his cannon bone. It is unlikely he will race again at all, as the problem was only identified after owners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn suggested a scan ahead of a possible deal with breeders.
Should he do so, however, there would clearly be the possibility of trying to go one better than when second to Prince Bishop in the Dubai World Cup in March.
"If they decide to run him next year, he'll be fine," trainer Art Sherman told the Daily Racing Form. "They haven't made up their mind, but I'll know in the next couple of days."
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