By Ec! Victor to be vanquished
ECRIVAIN is the selection to go 2-1 up in his private battle with Victor Ludorum by landing the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (2.50) at Deauville today.
Victor Ludorum, who heads the market for the one-mile test — the Emiratessponsored
French 2,000 Guineas has been moved from Longchamp — scored the opening salvo with a victory in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard last October.
Ecrivain was back in fourth, but the Carlos Laffon-Parias trainee levelled the score when the pair finished second and third respectively to The Summit in the Prix de Fontainebleau in Paris three weeks ago.
The winner enjoyed a length-and-three-quarter margin and there was a further three parts between Ecrivain and Victor Ludorum.
However, that doesn’t tell the whole story. Maxime Guyon found his path blocked when attempting to make ground on Ecrivain on the run to the final quarter mile, before the son of Lope De Vega came home with purpose — and he can come out on top this time.
Victor Ludorum’s trainer André Fabre saddles TROPBEAU in the French equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (3.25), and the favourite will be hard to beat.
Tropbeau (left) wound up her two-year-old campaign with an unlucky third to Millisle in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket last September.
But she was back to winning form under Mickael Barzalona in the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte at Longchamp on her return, holding Dream And Do by half a length, and should confirm her superiority to give Fabre a fourth success in the fillies’ Classic.