Hurricane Lane storms to success in Grand Prix de Paris

Hurricane Lane backed up his Irish Derby victory with a majestic display to win the Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp.

The Charlie Appleby-trained colt may only have got up close home to deny Lone Eagle at the Curragh, but there was no doubting his superiority in the Group One on Bastille Day.

William Buick had Hurricane Lane in the perfect position from the start behind pacesetter The Mediterranean, one of three runners from Aidan O’Brien’s stable.

He led into the straight but Buick was always confident on Hurricane Lane and eased him into the lead a furlong and a half out.

The Frankel colt put the race to bed in a matter of strides and cruised clear to score with ease by six lengths.

Wordsworth, another O’Brien inmate, was second with Alenquer staying on well from the rear to grab third place, another length away. William Haggas’ King Edward VII Stakes victor could not get into a challenging position from his wide draw.

Hurricane Lane was cut to 8-1 from 12-1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by Paddy Power and to 6-1 from 14-1 with Coral, who trimmed him to evens favourite from 5-2 for the St Leger.

Buick said: “I would like to start by thanking France Galop, who have worked with the British Horseracing Authority. Their collaboration has made sure that everything was in place so that I could come and ride the horse. On Monday weren’t even sure it would be possible. That was already a small victory.

“This horse is a superstar. He really had the perfect race today, unlike at the Curragh.

“The layout of the racecourse, the ground, the rhythm – everything was perfect for him. He has a good cruising speed and a strong acceleration. Even more so, he is a very relaxed horse in his head.

“Off the back of that, I think that the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has to be a serious option for the autumn time.”

Hurricane Lane suffered his only defeat in six career outings when third to stablemate Adayar in the Derby at Epsom and Appleby believes he is one of the leading lights in this year’s Classic division.

He said: “He’s obviously been a very exciting horse to deal and he’s only been beaten once in his life and that was in the Derby when I felt inexperience caught us out. Today’s performance has franked him as one of the best three-year-olds in Europe and he’s an exciting horse.

“As we always do, we’ll allow the dust to settle but you would have to be thinking about him as a serious contender for the Arc.

“We’ll give him a bit of a break now because he’s run in an English Derby, and Irish Derby and then backed it up two and a half weeks later in a Grand Prix de Paris. He deserves to have a break, but whether he can give himself a break is another thing.

“He ran in the Grand Prix because he’d come out of the Irish Derby so well. He has a great constitution. He has a great mind and he shows his wellbeing in the morning.”

Olivier Peslier, who rode Wordsworth, felt the runner up could benefit from more of a staying trip in due course.

He said: “He has ran well, despite not taking me along early. I had to shake him along to get him to follow the winner, to make sure I didn’t get caught for toe. After that, he was very courageous and put in an excellent effort to finish second.

“He will be better suited by something a bit longer, like the St Leger. He needs a little time to get going but he is quite talented.”

James Doyle was pleased with the way Alenquer finished, but admitted his high draw had taken its toll.

He said: “The draw wasn’t ideal. As we know it’s not easy historically from the wide draw at Longchamp over a mile and a half. I rode him to come home and he’s finished off very well.

“We were on the back foot a little bit and I had a little look up around 800 metres out and I thought we had a bit of a mountain to climb.

“If the pace had held up it would have given me a chance, but they did sort of steady at half way and made it very difficult for me to get into it. But I’m very proud of him, he’s run a solid race and he’s got the trip well.”