One slight favorite prevailed and a pair of odds-on betting choices floundered as spectator-free racing returned to Longchamp on Monday. Tropbeau, the narrow choice over Khayzaraan, won the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte by a half-length over Dream and Do, cementing her position as favorite for the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, France’s 1000 Guineas. In the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt, Sottsass, making his first start since a third-place finish in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, failed to come close to producing his best form, checking in fourth the odds-on choice as Shaman led all the way in his first start at a distance as far as 1 ¼ miles. Victor Ludorum similarly struggled as the heavy favorite in the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau, finishing a well-beaten third as The Summit set a slow pace and never was headed. The 10-race card was contested over very soft ground that was sure to blunt brilliance. Victor Ludorum had won the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagerdere over a very soft Longchamp course last fall but failed to display the same acceleration as in firmer-ground starts. Monday, he was caught wide with no cover and couldn’t quicken with The Summit, who controlled tempo from the start under Pierre-Charles Boudot while winning for the second time in six starts. The Summit likely had a fitness edge Monday, having raced once in March before coronavirus halted French racing, and he benefited from Boudot’s assertive tactics, beating Ecrivain, who got tied up in some traffic a quarter-mile out, by 1 ¾ lengths. Victor Ludorum finished another three-quarters length farther behind in third. Alex Pantall trains The Summit, who is by Wootton Bassett and out of Acola, by Acatenango. Tropbeau answered questions regarding distance and fitness in the one-mile Prix de la Grotte, her first try beyond seven furlongs. Trainer Andre Fabre cautioned before the race that Tropbeau carried more weight into her 3-year-old debut than ideal, and Fabre had cut her back from seven to six furlongs for her final start at 2, but Tropbeau had too much class for her Monday foes. :: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Khayzaraan, a flashy winner of two starts last year over firm going and against suspect competition, set the pace in her first start over soft ground and had no resistance when Tropbeau and jockey Mickael Barzalona pounced in upper stretch. Tropbeau made the lead just inside the furlong grounds and churned bravely to the finish to hold soft-ground-loving Dream and Do, who was a head better than Tickle Me Green, a lightly raced and progressive Fabre-trained filly. A daughter of Showcasing and Frangipanni, by Dansili, Tropbeau now has four wins from six starts, and her third-place finish last fall in the Group 1 Cheveley Park came with compromising trouble late in the race. As for Sottsass, he never really looked a major threat in the Prix d’Harcourt, but though his fourth-place finish was disappointing given his short price, victory in the French Derby, and commendable Arc run, all is far from lost for the Peter Brant homebred. Sottsass ran modestly, too, in his 3-year-old bow last season, and trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, having earlier seen his talented 3-year-old Helter Skelter finish only sixth in the Fontainebleau, told The Racing Post that his horses were “not yet ready” following a winter break and the delayed start of the flat season. Shaman, meanwhile, got a masterful front-running ride from Maxim Guyon, who put his mount on the lead and sat chilly even when the pace-chasers came to him a quarter-mile out. Guyon waited and waited to ask Shaman for run, got the needed acceleration when he pushed the button, and crossed the line three-quarters of a length in front of longshot Way to Paris. Simona, who ran twice in March, finished third in front of Sottsass. Shaman, a 4-year-old trained by Carlos-Laffon Parais for the Wertheimer brothers, might have been miscast last year as a miler. One of his best 2019 performances came in his only start longer than one mile, when he led all the way in the 1 1/8-mile Prix la Force last April at Longchamp. Similar tactics produced another productive showing Monday, and Parais said the son of Sharmadal and Only Green, by Green Desert, would be kept at longer trips with either the Prix Ganay or Prix d’Ispahan his next target.