Aidan O'Brien and Christophe Soumillon started Arc day with a double in the Group 1 juvenile contests as Diamond Necklace and Puerto Rico won.
In the following race after Diamond Necklace had landed the Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac in good style, stablemate Puerto Rico followed up with an impressive all-the-way victory in the hands of Soumillon in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.
A son of the late Wootton Bassett, Puerto Rico had a similar profile to last year's winner of the same race for O'Brien, Camille Pissarro, who had also racked up plenty of experience in his debut campaign before really blooming at Longchamp.
Puerto Rico certainly had the experience, this his seventh start, and while he had displayed good form when winning the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster last time, form that was boosted at Longchamp on Saturday by the third home Cape Orator, he took his level to even greater heights here.
Always in control of the contest on the front end, Puerto Rico found another gear when asked for his effort and he pulled clear of the chasing pack to win by an easy two and a half lengths.
Ballydoyle strike again in Paris as PUERTO RICO lands the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere! 🏆🇫🇷
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) October 5, 2025
A quickfire Group 1 double for Aidan O'Brien and Christophe Soumillon 🏇🤝@Ballydoyle | @coolmorestud pic.twitter.com/1jADkYsaar
A delighted O'Brien said: "He's a very big strong colt, loads of speed. Wootton Bassett had a lot of speed himself and so does this horse.
"Christophe said he's a very quick. He's a miler, he won't go any further but he has loads of speed.
"I was probably running him over a little bit short because he had loads of speed, Doncaster was his first run over seven and he won and the form got very strong overnight.
"Camille won the French Derby which is a very important race. Whether he will get a mile and a quarter I'm not sure, but we didn't think Camille would either because he was so fast as well."
Soumillon said: "He's lovely, the plan today was just to let him come out of the gates and make him gallop by his own if that was possible. He did everything perfect although he started to hang a bit out (left) as I came into the false straight. So I tried to bring him to the rail to try and make sure he was going to concentrate.
"When I felt nobody was coming to my outside I just squeezed him with the legs and he picked up so good."
Diamond sparkles in Marcel Boussac
Earlier on, Arc day got off to a fine start for O'Brien and Soumillon as Diamond Necklace comfortably maintained her unblemished record.
Sent off the 11/10 favourite to make it three from three in the Group 1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac - Criterium Des Pouliches, the daughter of St Mark's Basilica was settled in mid-pack before switching out towards the centre of the course soon after straightening for home.
The front-running Green Spirit tried to make the best of her way home having been drawn in stall one but Soumillon timed his run to perfection and didn't have to get overly serious on the winner to get up in the final furlong and score by a length. Green Spirt (9/4) held on for the runner-up spot with 10/1 chance Narissa back in third.
Paddy Power cut Diamond Necklace to 8/1 from 14/1 for next year's 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Nice filly ✅
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) October 5, 2025
DIAMOND NECKLACE - by St Mark's Basilica and a half-sister to Magic Wand - remains unbeaten with victory in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac under Christophe Soumillon 👏@Ballydoyle | @coolmorestud pic.twitter.com/1LkCjQGE3o
O'Brien said on Sky Sports Racing: "Christophe wanted her to come here and there's a big team of people around her. I'm delighted, especially being a St Mark's Basilica makes it very special.
"She's a filly we were worried was a little bit babyish to come here but Christophe was adamant that it would suit her.
"She's a Classic filly obviously, I'd say she'll be comfortable starting at a mile and will stay the Oaks trip I would imagine. She's very exciting and a typical St Mark's, every week goes by they're getting better and stronger."
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
