Prix Ganay kicks off Group 1 racing season in Europe

Fantastic Moon was unable to win France’s most important Group 1 of the season Oct. 1 at Longchamp, but he’ll have a much better chance to land France’s first Group 1 of the 2024 flat season Sunday at Longchamp.

A disappointing 11th in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a race in which he did not appear to be overmatched, Fantastic Moon was one of nine older horses whose names passed the entry box for the Prix Ganay. The 1 3/16-mile contest not only is France’s first Group 1, it annually opens Group 1 flat-racing competition across Europe.

Four-year-old Fantastic Moon, trained in Germany by rising star Sarah Steinberg, already is a Group 1 winner having captured the German Derby last July, beating 19 rivals at Hamburg. In September, he was an easy winner of the Prix Niel, a 3-year-old restricted Arc prep, but Fantastic Moon made no impression at all in the Arc.

By Sea The Moon, Fantastic Moon already has raced this year, finishing second March 31 in a listed race at Hoppegarten. The horse who beat him 1 1/2 lengths, Mr Hollywood, is no slouch, second to Fantastic Moon in the German Derby and second last fall in the Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Baden before acting as the caboose in the Arc. Fantastic Moon probably prefers 1 1/2 miles to this shorter trip, but with a solid move forward Sunday he rates a good chance.

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Al Riffa looms the main competition. He probably more naturally suits the Ganay distance than Fantastic Moon, but Al Riffa starts for the first time since Aug. 15. His performance that day, a close second in the 1 1/4-mile Prix Guillame d’Ornano at Deauville, was very strong: Besting him by three-quarters of a length was Ace Impact, who went on to win the Arc in a blowout.

Trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien, 4-year-old Al Riffa was a Group 1 winner at age 2 but did not make the races during 2023 until July. He’s getting a much earlier start to his 2024 season, which could easily begin with a win.

Zarakem, another 4-year-old, won the Ganay prep, the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt on April 7, but that victory came on heavy ground and marked Zarakem’s first victory in a group stakes race.

Zarir, an Aga Khan homebred, has scored two easy wins over lesser opposition this year after being gelded but has been racing over 13 1/2 furlongs and has not run this short since an eighth-place finish in his debut about a year ago.

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