Small Size But Classy Ganay

First French Group 1 draws only six runners, but all budding champs, says legend Mosse

- Michael Lee

On paper, a small field of only six runners may take the gloss off all the hype around the first French Group 1 feature of the year.

The 14 entries filed for the €300,000 (S$448,000) Prix Ganay a month ago had whetted racegoers' appetite for another exciting renewal of the 136-year-old race.

But even whittled down to the six who will face the starter at Longchamp on April 27 at 10.25pm Singapore time, the 2,100m contest still exudes quality, with an international flavour to boot.

The field will be split two ways into a classic France v UK match.

The trio crossing the English Channel, Royal Rhyme, Al Riffa and Higher Leaves, are smart with nine wins between them, but the market is already skewed towards a two-horse race from the home team: Map Of Stars and Sosie.

Defeated only once in six starts, the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Map Of Stars followed up his impressive Group 3 Prix Exbury (2,000m) at Saint-Cloud at the first race of his 2025 campaign on March 16 with a facile victory in the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt (2,000m) at Longchamp three weeks later.