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Prix d'Ispahan preview

French racing suffers from small fields in big races too occasionally, only five to go around here, but a classy bunch at least.

William Kedjanyi, @keejayOV, again with the preview.

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PRIX D´ISPAHAN
Group 1, 1m1f55y
Longchamp 1610 local, 1510 BST
Winner: £110,736

Cirrus Des Aigles: Everybody’s favourite veteran and as good as ever last year, finishing second in the Sheema Classic, and then winning the Ganay, last year’s renewal of this, and the Corornation Cup before disappointing at Ascot in the Champion Stakes. However he atoned with a fine fourth in the Hong Kong Cup and the style of his win in the Ganay over a race fit Al Kazeem was a performance that’s as good as any he’s posted and he should take the beating here although the ground today is far faster.

Galio Chop: Won all but one of his starts last year when fourth in the Belmont Derby (the form of which stands up well to scrutiny), after which he returned in fine style to land the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano in great style. Australian owned, by OTI Racing.

Solow: Has become a new horse since being dropped back to this trip, using a wilting turn of foot to take the Prix Daniel Wildenstein at Longchamp, and after an easy prep, he posted a stunning performance in the Dubai Duty Free when thrashing The Grey Gatsby. Things dropped for him perfectly that day, but the turn of foot he showed was exceptional once again and he should be part of a terrific duel.

Pollyanna: Won the 2013 Daniel Wildenstein in good style before then finishing third in last year’s renewal of this. Solid fourth at Ascot in the Fillies and Mares Event but well beaten in the Ganay last time and doesn’t look likely to land a blow.

Sparkling Mountain: The form of her last four starts stands up well to scrutiny, but even then she has a lot of work to be doing to make an impact in this field with Fate having been left behind by Cirrus Des Aigles in the Ganay here last time, and she’s hard to recommend.

VERDICT: On form this should be a terrific match between the phenomenal 9-year-old Cirrus Des Aigles and the extremely progressive 4-year-old SOLOW. There should not be much separating them today but in a small field on a sound surface Solow’s speed may just win out and he gets the vote on that basis.

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