French Racing Tips: Perfect opportunity for Fahey colt to regain winning thread

There are two Group 1s at Deauville today and British raiders are favourites to win both.

First up is the £312,000 Darley Prix Morny for two-year-olds over six furlongs at 14:50.

Richard Hannon runs two, with Pat Dobbs' mount Armor favourite and Gubbass, ridden by Sean Levey a 10/1 shot.

The question-mark regarding Armor is whether he will see out the extra furlong after three good runs over five.

He had the rail to run against when beating Fearby in the Molecomb on soft at Goodwood, and the runner-up was again in the money at York this week. This time he is drawn in the centre of the track. He will need to improve to win from there and it will be interesting to see how he is ridden given he is running over six for the first time.

If you want an English-trained runner that has won a Group race over the Morny trip look no further than Alan King's Asymmetric who won the Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. He collared long-time leader Khunan in the final furlong and won by half a length, Gubbass being nosed out for second.

Christophe Soumillon takes over from Paul Hanagan on Richard Fahey's Perfect Power for whom nothing went right in the Molecomb. He was only beaten a length and would perhaps have won if he hadn't twice been stopped in his tracks.

The Irish have two runners - Gavin Cromwell's Queen Mary winner Quick Suzy and Joseph O'Brien's Coolmore-owned Velocidad. Both a Group 2 winners, Quick Suzy's coming over the minimum trip and Velocidad's over six.

Have A Good Day is the only Group winner among the French contingent. She won the Group 3 Prix Cabourg over six on soft at Deauville by half a length from Dizzy Bizu and Trident with Toimy Son a length back in fifth.

Although she was an outsider that day, there was nothing flukey about her success, so it is a little strange Trident is half her odds.

The form of the Prix Robert Papin has worked out well, so Baghed who was second to Atomic Force, with Hellomydarlin and the Group 3 winner Who Knows over a length behind, could well end up shorter than his overnight odds of 40/1.

It's a cracking contest for horses a cut above the Group 2 Gimcrack won by Hannon and Dobbs with Lusail on Friday. Armor could well give the trainer and jockey a notable double but I like the each-way option of Soumillon and Perfect Power, backed into 11/2 from 8/1 yesterday.

Lady likely to add to her Nassau win

Lady Bowthorpe is napped to give William Jarvis his first Group 1 winner in France in the Darley Prix Jean Romanet at 15:25.

It's an obvious target for any winner of the Nassau at Glorious Goodwood coming 24 days after that Group 1 race for fillies and mares over the same 10-furlong trip.

James Fanshawe's Audarya ran below market expectations that day, beating just one home and coming home seven lengths behind Lady Bowthorpe.

That run didn't surprise me, though, as I thought her second to Love at Royal Ascot was overrated. Audarya is quite possibly not as good this year as last.

Thundering Nights looks a bigger danger given the filly she beat in the Group 1 Pretty Polly, Santa Barbara, has since won the Belmont Oaks and the Beverly D - two of the most valuable races for the fairer sex in the States.

I would certainly fancy her to finish in front of the third, Cayenne Pepper and fourth Insinuendo again.

Ebaiyra has yet to run a bad race from day one. She has been placed in her last two races at this top level and the only time she has finished out of the first three was when a close-up sixth in last year's French Oaks.

She is a class act and Lady Bowthorpe will have to be at her best to beat her and Thundering Nights.

Katara can spring surprise in the Prix de Pomone

The Darley Prix de Pomone at 16:00 is over 12 furlongs and again restricted to fillies and mares.

The six-runner split sees Listed scorers from England and Ireland taking on two Group winners from France plus Joie De Soir a Listed winner owned by Coolmore and trained by Andre Fabre.

The Group winners, Raabihah 7/4 and Valia 5/2, head the betting and it's 7/1 bar.

The overseas challenge is pretty feeble but Katara put her best hoof forward at Pontefract last time for a good honest victory in a photo. She is inconsistent but just pull off a shock here.

George Boughey, Jamie Spencer and Nick Bradley Racing had a third here yesterday with Oscula. If their Mystery Angel fared any better it would be a surprise as her official rating is 6lb behind Silence Please and 3lb behind Katara despite her finishing second to Snowfall in the Oaks at Epsom.

Ska can make his mark in the Kergorlay

The last of the Group races, the Prix Kergorlay at 16:35, is best left to the odds-on favourite Skazino.

Since stepping up to the stayers' division in May he has gone from a mark of 98 to 110. That is thanks to winning two Group races at Longchamp over an extended mile and seven, and a head defeat when Valia got the better of him over a mile and six on his third visit to the Paris track.

Mickael Barzalona knows Skazino well and the five-year-old acts on soft. He has had a month to get over what was a tough race against Valia and really ought to win.

Rip Van Lips had Brokeback Mountain three lengths back when winning at Hoppegarten in May. The winner was out of his depth in our Gold Cup on his only subsequent start but in this company appeals each-way at 13/2.

The sole English challenger Red Verdon won a Listed at Sandown the last time Ryan Moore rode him. He is rarely in the winner's enclosure nowadays, though, and was 20 lengths behind Skazino when they last met in May.