Wajir scores to start busy prep week

A busy week of European classic preps got under way at Longchamp on Monday as Wajir took the Group 2, $173,000 Prix Hocquart, a 1 1/4-mile trial for the French Derby. An Elie Lellouche-trained son of Danehill Dancer, Wajir prevailed by a half-length over Telluride. Grandcamp, who had beaten Wajir into third in the Group 2 Prix Noailles on April 5, finished last of five after having led to the three-sixteenths pole. The time for the 1 3/8 miles on good ground was 2:17.60.

At the Curragh, the Jim Bolger-trained Vocalised enhanced his prospects for the Irish 2000 Guineas with a second successive Group 3 victory in the $113,000 Tetrarch Stakes. In clocking 1:34.82 for seven furlongs on boglike heavy ground, the Kentucky-bred son of Vindication was following up on his win in the seven-furlong Group 3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury on April 18.

Later at the Curragh, Curtain Call took a competitive renewal of the Group 3, $113,000 Mooresbridge Stakes for older horses at 1 1/4 miles, defeating last year's French Derby runner-up, Famous Name, by three lengths. The winner, a Luca Cumani-trained son of Sadler's Wells, had been a very unlucky fifth in the Irish Derby, and was running for the first time since July 14 when he was 10th in the Grand Prix de Paris.