France: Way to Paris has big chance to get his Group 1 in Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud
Tom’s d’Etat is not the only 7-year-old in career-best form racing this weekend.
While 7-year-old Tom’s d’Etat was set to start favorite Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes, 7-year-old Way to Paris can win his first Group 1 Sunday in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
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Way to Paris went on a 17-race losing streak from May 2017 to July 2019, but comes into Sunday’s start after three of the best – if not the three best – performances of his life.
May 11, he was beaten three-quarters of a length by loose-on-the-lead Shaman in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt, following that with a 4 ½-length romp in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly over 1 9/16 miles. That led to the Group 1, 1 5/16-mile Prix Ganay on June 11, where Way to Paris nearly ran down heavily favored Sotsass, winner of the 2019 French Derby and third a few months later in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. A repeat of that performance would make Way to Paris formidable in the 1 ½-mile Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, where he faces just four rivals.
Among them is Old Persian, whose best races have come on flat, left-handed courses in Dubai and North America. Old Persian makes his first start since throwing a real dud in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last fall at Santa Anita, where he finished 11th of 12 with no apparent excuse.
Nagano Gold makes his seasonal debut after finishing 2019 with an eighth-place finish in the Arc.
Also on the card at Saint-Cloud, where the going was listed as good-to-soft as of Friday, is the Group 2 Prix Muguet, a one-mile race for older horses that has drawn Persian King, winner of the French 2000 Guineas in 2019. Persian King went on to finish second in the French Derby in June 2019, but wasn’t seen racing again until June 10, when he was second as an odds-on favorite in a listed stakes at Chantilly. Persian King might merely have been rusty, in which case he should take a considerable step forward Sunday for trainer Andre Fabre, Godolphin, and jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot.
Even coming back to better form, Persian King faces a potentially worthy rival in Pretreville, who dominated listed stakes and conditions races in 2019 before stepping up to the Group 3 level May 18 at Chantilly, winning the Prix Bertrand du Breuil by more than three lengths over the capable miler Plumatic.
Daily Racing Form offers past performances for French races, and the Sunday card at Saint-Cloud can be found at DRFBets.com for live-streaming video and wagering.