Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Modern Games takes aim on French 2000 Guineas

Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby had a one-two finish in the English 2000 Guineas with Coroebus and Native Trail, and on Sunday at Longchamp they run the favorite, Modern Games, in France’s iteration of the Guineas, the Group 1 Poules d’Essai des Poulains.

The English race is run down Newmarket’s straight-mile course, while Sunday’s race is contested around one right-handed bend at Longchamp, where the course as of Friday was rated good to soft. Modern Games does fine on the straightaway but suggested he might be even better around turns with a definitive if controversial victory Nov. 5 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, the colt’s most recent start.

Modern Games was mistakenly scratched from the Juvenile Turf and permitted to race for purse money only. He won at Del Mar by 1 1/2 lengths, and runner-up Tiz the Bomb, at least through his victory in the Jeff Ruby Steaks, has validated the form. Slipstream, sixth in the Juvenile Turf, sharply won the Palisades in April at Keeneland, while seventh-place Stolen Base captured the American Turf last weekend at Churchill. Racing without a Guineas prep worked fine for Coroebus, who upset Native Trail while racing for the first time since fall of his 2-year-old season, and Modern Games no doubt is ready for a representative showing under William Buick.

Lassaut might prove best among the French horses, though he is relatively unproven. Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, Lassaut, by Almanzor, raced once at age 2, clearing the maiden ranks in December with an impressive last-to-first run over the all-weather track at Chantilly. There, Lassaut ran down Tribalist, a Godolphin colt trained by Andre Fabre who’s also in the Poulains, and last month in the Prix Machado, a one-mile Longchamp turf race, Lassaut got first run on Tribalist, holding sway by three-quarters of a length in another eye-catching performance.

Rouget also sends out Welwal, who narrowly won the Prix de Fontainebleau, his Guineas prep. Fabre also has a second runner, Ancient Rome, a good 2-year-old who was just sixth in the Fontainebleau. English shippers Claymore, a soundly beaten second to Native Trail in the Craven Stakes, and Bayside Boy, who kept top company as a 2-year-old, have been well supported in fixed-odds betting with British bookmakers.

Cachet, the surprise wire-to-wire winner of the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 1, is the early favorite for the Poules d’Essai des Pouliches, the French 1000 Guineas, but may struggle to contain a couple French fillies.

Rosacea finished fifth in her career debut but hasn’t lost in four starts since, sharply winning the Prix de la Grotte last month at Longchamp, clocking a swift 21.84 seconds for her final 400 meters. Her jockey last month, Mickael Barzalona, winds up on Mqse De Sevigne, but Theo Bachelot rode Rosacea to three wins last year. Mqse De Sevigne, trained by Fabre, is a win contender in her own right, having captured her Guineas prep, the Prix Vanteaux, in just her third career start.