Trio of Group 3 races for 3-year-olds at Longchamp

Spring buds are bursting open in Paris – literally and figuratively. The figurative types, 3-year-olds gearing up for the European classics, will have a chance to flower in three Group 3 stakes on Sunday at Longchamp.

The program, expected to be conducted over ground rated good-to-soft, has a pair of mile races – the Prix de Fontainebleau for sophomore males and the Prix de la Grotte for fillies – along with the 1 3/16-mile Prix Noailles, an early marker on the path to the Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby.

The Prix de Fontainebleau has just five entrants, two trained by Andre Fabre, and among that pair Persian King, the star of this little show. Fabre trained Persian King as a 2-year-old but the colt was sold privately to Godolphin in January and makes his first start in their royal blue silks. Persian King, by Kingman, scored a couple blowout wins at Chantilly last year before shipping to England to win the Group 2 Autumn Stakes over a straight mile at Newmarket in October. Headed a furlong out by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Magna Grecia, Persian King battled back along the rail to prevail by a head in a game performance that stands out among the Fontainebleau runners.

Price Range, a Khalid Abdullah homebred trained by Pascal Bary, is one to watch Sunday though likely not presently in the class of Persian King.

There’s no such standout in the Prix de la Grotte, though there is a filly whose last start came in America, Lilly’s Candle, the 12th-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Lilly’s Candle has since been transferred to trainer Freddie Head and given her daily over-exuberance during morning training Breeders’ Cup week might be a much happier horse racing at home. Lilly’s Candle won the Group 1 Prix Marcel-Boussac leading to her Breeders’ Cup start, though she must still show that narrow victory was more than a fluke.

Cala Tarida and Montviette make their 3-year-old debut after ending 2018 with a one-two finish in the Group 3 Prix des Reservoirs over a straight mile at Deauville. Montviette was narrowly beaten that day but gets the nod Sunday with ample room to improve under master veteran trainer Jean-Claude Rouget.

It is back in the Prix Noailles to Fabre and Godolphin, who send Syrtis out for just his third start and first since a second-place finish last fall in the Prix de Conde. The winner of that race, also a Godolphin colt, was Line of Duty, who came right back to capture the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, making Sytris, a debut winner over the Longchamp course last fall, look like the one to beat Sunday.

Surrey Thunder, beaten a nose in a listed race March 25 at Saint-Cloud, could provide the main competition.