Our Trackside Live team deliver their latest eyecatchers from a busy weekend of top-class racing at ParisLongchamp.
Barnavara (Jessica Harrington)
- 5 October – Longchamp – Prix de l’Opera
Jessica Harrington might have been pleased with Barnavara’s performance to win the Prix de l’Opera, but we were less delighted that our ‘under the radar, potential Group 1’ filly in the making from Arc weekend had become very much on the radar.
She still deserves a place in this week’s column though - ‘Impressive individual, almost still raw and unfurnished, like she’s going to fill more into her frame over the next year. Useful prospect for 2026’.
It was also heartening to hear jockey Shane Foley on Sky Sports Racing, reiterating our feelings on the filly: “We've been saying all year she's very, very good and she's just been filling her frame."
The daughter of Calyx has managed to stay remarkably under the radar, given time by the Harrington team and making her way gradually through the grades, defeating the well-thought of Red Letter in the Listed Kooyonga Stakes before winning the Group 3 Jannah Rose Stakes at Naas.
Whilst the filly has very much ‘done her job’ of acquiring valuable Black Type, it will be interesting to see if syndicate owners Alpha Racing keep Barnavara in training next year for more top-level success. She’s a candidate for all of the big middle-distance races with a valuable fillies and mares allowance and it’s about time we had another Jessica Harrington star.
Nighttime (Christopher Head)
- 5 October – Longchamp – Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere
Questions may have been asked in the aftermath about whether winner Puerto Rico would follow the same path as stablemate Camille Pissarro and return to France for a Prix du Jockey Club, but the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere is probably better known for producing a useful miler.
Victor Ludorum and Rosallion have both tasted Guineas success after a Longchamp win and it was Nighttime who appeared as a potential Classic prospect from the race. ‘The type that will grow into a lovely three-year-old’ comment from the live feed is a straightforward description of a colt who has a big, rangy frame and the potential for vast improvement over the winter.
He's useful, too, with a pedigree to match. Out of a daughter of Nassau Stakes heroine Midday, Nighttime was a runaway winner of the Listed Prix Roland de Chambure and stepped into Group class with a victory in the Group 3 Prix la Rochette.
Soft ground and a step up in trip will see the best of this talented and well-related colt; at this stage, he’d be an easy one to side with for a Poule d’Essai des Poulains bid in the spring.
Tennessee Stud (Joseph O’Brien)
- 4 October – Longchamp – Prix Chaudenay
We’re going to take ante-post betting to the extreme but Tennessee Stud has Melbourne Cup 2026 written all over him: a sentiment echoed by connections in the aftermath and probably ignored by many, given we still haven’t had the 2025 running of the contest.
Joseph O’Brien is no stranger to Melbourne Cup success, has already won the ‘race that stops a nation’ twice with Rekindling (2017) and Twilight Payment (2020). He’s currently in the process of masterminding Al Riffa’s path to Australia to try and add another one, having won the Group 1 Irish St Leger and sold the colt to leading Australian connections.
Tennessee Stud fits the bill perfectly. Athletic and leggy, the colt has a lovely way about him. He’s relaxed in the paddock and appears to hold his condition well, appearing in tip-top shape throughout the second half of the season – from a sunny Saturday at Epsom to a rainy autumn weekend in Paris.
The son of Wootton Bassett had always shaped like the step up to stamina tests would be ideal and the Prix Chaudenay proved perfect, with the colt staying on well to repel stablemate Emit at the end of a gruelling 1m7f on very soft ground. Whilst two of his wins have come on soft, he’s proven equally capable in different conditions and is the ideal candidate for stepping into Al Riffa’s shoes.
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