Rest of Longchamp Saturday review as Fairy Glen wins Group 1 Prix de Royallieu

Fairy glides home in Royallieu

Fairy Glen swooped late to land a first Group 1 success in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu at ParisLongchamp for Simon & Ed Crisford on Saturday.

The daughter of Farhh was a non-runner in the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster and then returned from four months off when beaten at Yarmouth last time, but she improved from that to edge out hot favourite Sunly by a short neck in this 1m6f contest.

Ed Crisford said: "They went slow early and I thought maybe she was a bit far back but they actually got racing quite far out. She travelled into it super and Mickael [Barzalona] knows her well from Dubai and he rode a beautiful race on her. She finished off super well and she's a very good filly.

"She won over shorter in Dubai, she's actually got a really good turn of foot. This was always the plan after Dubai. We wanted to give her a nice summer break and make this the aim so we gave her a nice run at Yarmouth a couple of weeks ago and that set her up nicely for this. She's a really game filly and she's won a Group 1 now which is fantastic.

"She'll be retired at the end of this year for sure but we'll speak to her owner Sheikh Hamdan and make a plan whether we look at Ascot, she's entered but there are other races, so we'll take her home, see how she is and go from there."

Jab lands for Murphy in Prix Chaudenay

Amy Murphy kicked off Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend in style by landing the opening Group 2 Qatar Prix Chaudenay with Jabracadabra.

The British trainer relocated to Chantilly in France last year and achieved her target of 35 winners for the year in the week, while she couldn't have asked for a better start to the biggest meeting in the French calendar.

As hot favourite Pierre Bonnard struggled to make inroads on the leaders after being held up, Jabracadabra (9/1) hit the front under Ebbe Verhestraeten and was kept up to his work for a two-length success.

Verhestraeten only lost his claim last week and he gave the son of Cracksman a great ride, with Space Waltz (11/4) chasing him home in second and Winday (25/1) third for Emmet Mullins.

The disappointing 6/5 favourite Pierre Bonnard could only manage a laboured sixth.

Murphy said: "I'm gutted that one of his main owners, Kevin Freeman, is not here and Matt Coleman who sourced him; gutted those two are missing. Matt's at Book 1 at Tattersalls on the ground for next week. Just unbelievable.

"What a performance. What a ride from Ebbe [Verhestraeten]. We walked out there together and I said 'just remember you can do this'. He's a young jockey, he only lost his claim last week and he gave him a fantastic ride so kudos to him. All my team are here which is fabulous, that was great. The champagne is firmly open from about 10 minutes from now!

"Halfway down the back I was thinking they're going too slow for Victoire Magique so I was thinking let's inject some pace, then I saw Jabra travelling sweetly behind him. He couldn't have done more and I'm very proud of him. He started his year off in a maiden at Le Mans so to be here on Arc weekend is fabulous so well done to him and well done to the team."

Wimbledon Hawkeye a smash hit in Dollar

Wimbledon Hawkeye (5/2) continued his great form since moving to George Scott's in the Group 2 Qatar Prix Dollar.

The four-year-old has improved since making the switch from James Owen's and after winning at Deauville and finishing a nose second in the Group 1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last time he bounced back with another victory in France.

As Zaydann hit the front on the rail inside the final quarter mile, Wimbledon Hawkeye made his challenge down the centre under Christophe Soumillon to reel in the 13/2 chance and win going away by half a length.

Scott said: "It was a great performance. He travelled into the race brilliantly and swung away although the ground is a bit tacky for him. Delighted with the horse and what a horse he is.

"He's a very high class horse. He's on the right trajectory. Got the tactics perfect as well. We wanted to be ahead of the favourite and try and get him to come pass us and he couldn't so it was very exciting. Great to provide a horse like this for Sheikh Nasser."

Paddy Power cut Wimbledon Hawkeye to 8/1 from 12s for the Champion Stakes at Ascot, but Scott indicated it would be the Bahrain International next for the winner.

Play it again Silvestre

Qirat (9/1) gave a passable impression of his most famous performance in the Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein.

Qirat provided one of the great shocks in recent memory when winning the 2025 Group 1 Sussex Stakes at 150/1 under Richard Kingscote, making every yard and slipping the field.

Ridden on this occasion by Silvestre de Sousa, Qirat again set off in front and, again, wasn't for catching - winning the Group 2 by a comfortable two and a half lengths from the never nearer 8/11 favourite Quddwah.

Qirat, trained by Ralph Beckett and owned by Juddmonte, has now won six of his 22 starts.

De Sousa said: "We got beat on him last time but I thought the race was a bit too sharp for him over seven.

"I thought stepping up in trip today would help him along with the ground being on the slow side. He's just a proper miler and the older he gets, the better he is.

"I feel great and I'm just delighted to the owners for the opportunity to ride this horse. Ralph Beckett and his team brought him here in great shape and thanks to all of them."

The race, though, was marred by a fatal injury to Fallen Angel. Five times a Group 1 winner for Karl Burke and owners Wathnan Racing, Fallen Angel broke a leg in the straight and could not be saved.

More on the 2026 Arc de Triomphe

• David Ord on Kalpana and the Juddmonte ties
• Ben Linfoot tackles the big Longchamp questions
• John Ingles backing title holder to double up
• Matt Brocklebank on the Longchamp undercard
• Simon Holt on why Maltese Cross is such an important runner
• Ian Ogg on the case for outsider Saddadd
• Nick Doggett recalls Fallon scoring on Hurricane Run
• For or against hot favourite Daryz?
• Who is the best bet in this year’s race?
• Graffard: Daryz the best horse I’ve trained
• Aidan O’Brien on Ballydoyle trio
• Tom Marquand feeling positive
• Colin Keane expects star mare to shine
• Arc de Triomphe preview podcast
• Ryan Moore opts to ride Benvenuto Cellini
• Arc odds from Sky Bet and Paddy Power

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