Fractional

4th-Oct-2014

I want to be against the odds-on favourite Cirrus Des Aigles here. Corine Barande-Barbe’s horse is a superstar, he could have won an Arc de Triomphe or two were it not for the rule that excludes geldings from competing in the race, and he has done us a couple of turns through the years. However, things are against him today.

He is never as good fresh as he is after he has had a run or two, and he is better on easy ground than he is on good or fast ground. The last time we saw him was in the Coronation Cup back in June, 120 days ago. That is a long break for him. Significantly, top class performer though he is, he has never won on his seasonal debut. Also, he came home injured after Epsom, he had to have missed some work, and it may have been a rush to get him back for this race, a race that he simply always wins. Combine that with the fact that the ground today will probably be faster than ideal for him, and he is a horse to take on at odds-on.

I am backing Fractional against him ... Fractional is a five-year-old, but he is a lightly-raced five-year-old, primarily because he did not race at two or at four.

He has been really progressive this season, however. He has won his last three, and he showed a fine turn of foot on his most recent run in a Group 3 race at Maisons-Laffitte two weeks ago to beat Smoking Sun and Planetaire. The fact that Andre Fabre has supplemented him to this race tells you that his trainer thinks he has a big chance of winning it, and he is worth backing.

FRACTIONAL WON (ADV 9/2 [R4])

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