Trials day at Longchamp features a pair of Group 1’s.
First up, the Vermille for fillies & mares is a competitive affair with 13 going to post. Four Irish, five English take on a four French.
Sparan Nua at Leopardstown in August
Francois-Henri Gaffard’s Sunly, ridden by Colin Keane, heads the market from Jim Bolger’s Sparan Nua, the mount of Rossa Ryan. Francois-Henri Gaffard is double-handed with Rabbit’s Foot under Mickael Barzalona, also going to post.
John and Thady Gosden’s Friendly Soul, with James Doyle in the saddle, is also prominent in the market, with George Boughey’s Survie, the mount of Ryan Moore. Also featuring are Charlie Appleby’s Romantic Symphony, the mount of William Buick, and Patrice Cottier’s Pink Pantera, the mount of Pierre-Charles Boudot.
Aidan O’Brien sends a trio from Ballydoyle. Unusually, they’re all outsiders: Sugar Island, the mount of Wayne Lordan, Composing with Ronan Whelan on board, and Beautify has Christophe Soumillon in the saddle. Roger Varian’s Botagoz under Ray Dawson is another outsider, as is Yann Barberot’s Lapotheose with Alexis Pouchin in the plate.
Sunly was beaten ¾L by Aventure (winner of this last year) in the G2 Prix Corrida in May, and got within 1L of Calandagan last time out in July, finishing third in the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
Sparan Nua, was an unlucky second in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks when just failing to catch Kalpana, having met trouble in running. Ralph Beckett’s Taattycoram finished 6½L back in fifth, having previously taken the G2 Lancashire Oaks, beating Tiffany comfortably, the subsequent winner of the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, who added the Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes to her CV last night.
Friendly Soul had an excellent 2024 culminating in a G1 win in the Prix de l’Opera. She never made the racecourse in 2025 but has shown she’s still a force to be reckoned with in 2026. She was pulled up at Haydock in May; she lost her action. She went on to finish 2¼L third to Blue Bolt in the G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes and followed that up with an even better performance when finishing a 2¾L second to Diamond Necklace in the Nassau Stakes.
Survie is back in the colours of Doreen Tabor, having won the G2 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga, then following up at the same venue in the G1 Christophe Clement Turf Stakes in her husband Michael’s colours. She quickened impressively on both occasions.
Romantic Symphony was a Listed winner at Deauville last time. She’s an improving 3yo who will need to find another gear to get involved here.
Pink Pantera was just held by Diamond Necklace in the G1 Prix de Diane, beaten a short neck, and then went down a neck in the G2 Prix de Malleret to Behrayna.
The O’Brien team are without Ryan Moore in the camp, and you’d expect that Sugar Island will have Composing and Beautify acting as the hares this time. Sugar Island made the running at York, giving them a scare; she weakened in the final furlong, beaten 10L back in seventh.
Conclusion
This has an air of openness about it.
There’s plenty to like about Sunly; she’s gutsy, and so is Survie, who has a turn of foot. Tattycoram comes into the mix, as does Pink Pantera, and Friendly Soul. Sugar Island could be involved; however, it’s Sparan Nua, our choice in the Yorkshire Oaks, that makes the most appeal. She should have won at York, and we’ll stick with her to take this Vermille.
In the other Group 1, with no Bow Echo to contend with, Gstaad should win the Prix du Moulin.
Recommendation
Sparan Nua 7/2 win
Gstaad 1/1 win
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