The winning margin April 7 in the Prix d’Harcourt was 1 1/2 lengths, but bare win margins can deceive. Though Ghaiyyath crossed the finish 1 1/2 lengths in front of Soleil Marin in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt, the race long had been decided. Ghaiyyath bounded to the lead under William Buick, flowed beautifully over the Longchamp course while well within himself, took a huge lead into the homestretch while still in hand, and even after travelling strongly responded to Buick’s encouragement to produce a turn of foot. You can see Buick glance at the infield video screen about a furlong from the finish and, no pursuers to be found, switch his mount’s engine to idle. Soleil Marin got as close as he did only because Ghaiyyath literally jogged across the line. That performance came in Ghaiyyath’s first start of 2019, was his fourth straight win following a third-place career-debut finish, and ought to have Ghaiyyath more than ready to notch his first Group 1 victory Sunday at Longchamp in the Prix Ganay. Trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin, Ghaiyyath meets merely four foes in the 1 5/16-mile Ganay, among them Soleil Marin, who can’t touch an in-form Ghaiyyath, and Intellogent, who was five lengths behind Ghaiyyath on April 7. The other two horses, though, were high-level performers of 2018: Waldgeist was a multiple Group 2 winner and captured the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last summer, while Study of Man bagged his biggest prize in the Prix du Jockey Club, France’s derby. Both horses ended their campaigns with a whimper. Study of Man failed to improve after his Jockey Club and ended his season with a tame ninth-place finish in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Waldgeist did better in that race, finishing a mildly troubled fourth, but was a distant fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and a handily defeated fifth in the Hong Kong Vase. Ghaiyyath, meanwhile, missed nearly all of 2018 due to an injury, only making his season’s debut Sept. 22 in a Group 3 at Longchamp. He won that easily, looked even better last out in this 4-year-old unveiling, and comes into Sunday’s race as one of the more exciting horses in Europe. The Longchamp course as of Friday was rated good, which suits Ghaiyyath, and as a horse comfortable setting the pace in a short field, he could put on another show in the Ganay.