Cutlass Bay heads Prix Ganay

Cutlass Bay should rack up the first Group 1 race of his promising career on Sunday, when he will go off the favorite for Longchamp's 1 5/16-mile, $397,000 Prix Ganay. A Halling 4-year-old, Cutlass Bay made it 4 for 4 for his injury-plagued career by winning the 1 1/4--mile, Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt at Longchamp on April 11 and will have benefited from that outing.

Trained by Godolphin Racing's man in France, Andre Fabre, Cutlass Bay had Court Canibal and the filly Celimene back in second and third that day. A year ago he had defeated his stablemate and subsequent Grand Prix de Paris winner Cavalryman into second in the 1 1/4-mile, Group 2 Prix Greffulhe. Bred in the UAE by Darley, he has the potential to become one of Europe's leading middle-distance performers. Maxime Guyon has the call.

Court Canibal and Celimene will try him again on Sunday, as will Chinchon, winner of the 1 1/4-mile, Group 3 Prix Exbury winner Chinchon, but the big threat comes in the shape of the Aga Khan's 4-year-old filly Shalanaya. By Lomitas out of a Nashwan mare and trained by Mikel Delzangles, she scored an 18-1 surprise in the 1 1/4-mile, Group 1 Prix de l'Opera at Longchamp on Oct. 4, after which she was not quite up to par when fourth in the 1 3/-8-mile, Grade 1 Queen Elizabethh II Challenge Cup at Kyoto. Back on her favorite course, where she has also won the listed Prix de Liancourt, Shalanaya will be ridden by Christophe Lemaire in her first try against males.