Maranoa Charlie leads them a merry dance in Foret

Maranoa Charlie was much the best when striding to victory in the Qatar Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp.

Trained by Christopher Head for Yorkshire-based Bond Thoroughbred Limited, the 5-1 chance was ridden by Aurelien Lemaitre, who set his stall out early in the Group One, making the running from the off and never losing his spot at the head of the field as he prevailed over the 2-1 favourite Zarigana.

Charlie Bond said: “We’re so lucky, I’m lost for words really.

“He’s had three runs for us now and nearly won two Group Ones before today. He’s just an amazing horse, an amazing looking horse, we’re just so lucky.

“Christopher said he’d been working so well going into today’s race and he was back on home territory after travelling across to England for his last run. He said he was ready today and couldn’t see him getting beat.

“The jockey said he had more in the tank and knew where the line was.”

On a future career at stud, Bond added: “There were plenty of offers before today. I’ll have to turn the phone off and celebrate tonight and see what we wake up to in the morning.

“Christopher is in charge, so if he wants to race on next year then so be it.”

Head added: “He’s a horse that always went with the pace and we taught him to work like that. He’s now a more mature horse than he was at the beginning of the year and he is now absolutely able to go in front and long term he would be able to do the mile really well.

“It was extremely satisfying to see him win here today, especially accelerating in this manner.”

On a possible tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the trainer added: “He would be able to race in America since he can be so fast at the beginning of the race and we all know in America you need to have that aptitude to be able to be in the game.

“Definitely a mile race in America is not a problem for him, but the only question mark is the interest for him and his career as a stallion because we are looking to build a stallion for Mr Bond and helping him become more powerful in the industry in the long term.”