Jerome Reynier expects star four-year-old Lazzat to bounce back to peak form in Saturday's QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes.
The Wathnan Racing-owned son of Territories delivered on the promise he'd shown in France in the spring when storming home to land the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at the Royal meeting in June and his trainer was content to strike a line through the last run in Haydock's Betfair Sprint Cup.
Backed all the way down to even-money favourite in the north west, Lazzat was undone by a draw bias according to his trainer.
Reynier said on Wednesday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "Obviously he had a hard battle back in June when he broke the course record. We gave him a lot of time to recover and we were quite confident prior to the Maurice de Gheest to score again. He ran a really good race, Sajir was just better than us on the day, but James (Doyle, retained rider) felt he wasn't just the same as he was a little bit fresh and pulling a bit too much and burning too much petrol.
"We went to the Sprint Cup afterwards and that was quite a weird race, we were drawn in the middle and there was a big bias for horses drawn on the stands' rail. He ran a good race but he was kind of outpaced all the way through and I think he will be better back over the six furlongs in Ascot which us a bit stiffer and suits him well.
"We're hoping for a really good performance, he's been working really well and seems amazing physically and mentally for this his final race of his four-year-old campaign."
Reynier also saddled six-year-old Facteur Cheval in the QEII Stakes on the same card, although he would have preferred more rain in the weather forecast for the 2023 and 2024 runner-up.
The trainer said: "He was second in the race before when second to Big Rock and then Charyn but the ground was much softer.
"There's no rain and it's been dry for the past few weeks so it's not ideal for him. It's a pretty competitive field as well but he came back in really good style from Royal Ascot as that was a tough race. He's back in good shape and he's been running really well fresh so we're confident he can run a huge race, although we would have preferred much softer ground for him.
"It will be a very exciting race."
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