Hughie's phooey to French stipes

Trainer Hughie Morrison was left feeling "extremely disappointed" after Marmelo failed to get the Prix Maurice de Nieuil in the Longchamp stewards' room on Sunday.

There was just a nose in it as Way To Paris denied Marmelo at the end of a hard-fought contest, leaving Morrison and Ryan Moore to reflect on the nature of France's interference rules, which were overhauled in 2017 to bring them more into line with countries such as Britain and Ireland.

Moore lodged an objection to Cristian Demuro on Way To Paris and Aurelien Lemaitre aboard Call The Wind after receiving a bump shortly after turning into the home straight as the 2800m Group 2 contest came to a climax.

Demuro was given a two-day ban for what the stewards considered a minor infraction – the penalty was doubled because the offence occurred in a Group race – as was Lemaitre, but the result was unchanged after the interference at around the 400m-marker was not deemed to have impacted the finishing order.

"The first thing Ryan said when he jumped off was that he got bumped by the winner," said Morrison. "That has probably cost us half a length or a length so I don't understand the stewards' decision. We are extremely disappointed."

Lemaitre was sanctioned for leaning in on Demuro who then, in forcing his way off the rail, caused a concertina effect which caused Call The Wind to bump Marmelo.

Under the French rules, once the stewards were satisfied that neither Lemaitre nor Demuro had made a dangerous manoeuvre, it became much more unlikely the officials would change the result, even given the narrow winning margin.

Marmelo will now be aimed at either the Prix Kergorlay or the Irish St Leger, with a third tilt at the Melbourne Cup. –