Graffard seeking more glory with Sahlan in Lockinge

Francis-Henri Graffard is out to add the Boyles Sports Lockinge to his ever-growing CV after Sahlan brought a touch of French flavour to the 10 declarations for Newbury’s Group One centrepiece.

As well as being the dominant force on home soil, wins in Japan and at the Breeders’ Cup prove Graffard is a growing presence on the world stage and he will now head to Newbury with his Prix du Moulin scorer fresh from having landed the French Guineas with Rayif last Sunday.

“Francis-Henri Graffard is in top form at the moment and we hope we can take advantage of that and Sahlan can run a good race on Saturday,” said Violaine de Barmon, head of racing operations for owners Al Shaqab in France.

“Sahlan has had a good winter and has been working well. Francis said he did a good piece of work on the grass last week and afterwards he was very happy so decided to go for the Lockinge.

“It will be his comeback so we will see how it goes, but he’s in good form and we hope it will bring a good result.”

Sahlan claimed the scalp of reopposing The Lion In Winter (third) and Roger Teal’s Dancing Gemini (ninth) when claiming Group One honours at ParisLongchamp last September and he went on to finish a respectable fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.

That race Stateside was won by another Lockinge candidate in last year’s fourth, Charlie Appleby’s Notable Speech, while he prepares to lock horns with a red-hot cast headed by John and Thady Gosden’s Damysus and Karl Burke’s Zeus Olympios.

However, a strong showing will cement Sahlan’s position as one of the leading miler’s in Europe and will potentially tee up the French raider for a trip to Royal Ascot.

“Francis was thinking of giving him a run before but the programme didn’t prove suitable,” continued De Barmon.

“He could have run in the Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud on May 1 but the team thought it was a little close to this so we decided to come directly here.

“Royal Ascot is a possibility after this and then in the summer we will target races like the Prix Jacques le Marois, all going well.”

As well as The Lion In Winter, O’Brien runs the supplemented Mississippi River, who was last in action on Sunday.

The in-form William Haggas will start one of his most likeable performers, More Thunder, at a mile having excelled over slightly shorter last season, while Andrew Balding’s Jonquil returns to the scene of his Greenham victory last term having served a reminder of his class in the Paradise Stakes at Ascot.

A stacked field is rounded off by Charles Hills’ shock Queen Elizabeth II Stakes scorer Cicero’s Gift who was not disgraced in fourth in his comeback run at Sandown in the bet365 Mile.