Richard Hannon's Rosallion was agonisingly denied in another Group 1 as he narrowly failed to reel in Sahlan in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.
Rosallion won the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes last season but is still searching for a first top-level success as a four-year-old having finished placed in the Lockinge, Queen Anne and Sussex Stakes, and fourth in the newly upgraded City of York Stakes.
He came with a thundering run down the outside under Sean Levey at Longchamp, but he couldn't quite reel in 20/1 shot Sahlan, who had finished ninth behind Henri Matisse in the French 2000 Guineas earlier in the season and was arriving on the back of a win in a Group 3 at Deauville last month.
Sahlan, who was ridden by Mickael Barzalona for Francis-Henri Graffard, was positioned closer to the pace than Rosallion, the 5/2 second favourite, and found the line coming just in time, getting the verdict by a short-head in a photo finish. The Lion In Winter fared best of Aidan O'Brien's trio and was a neck back in third, while Henri Matisse, the 2/1 favourite, kept on in fifth but lacked the pace to get on terms.
Sahlan just manages to repel Rosallion to land the Group One Qatar Prix du Moulin de Longchamp! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/XdBQFMHTzY
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 7, 2025
The winning trainer said to Sky Sports Racing: "We have to thank the owners that respected my opinion and trusted me. We have to take a big challenge sometimes and today was a big challenge. I said to his highness Sheikh Joaan, 'I don't have many options for the horse [but] I think he's in good form, he can quicken. It's a big gamble but if we are in the first five that's fine, we have nothing to lose'. He believed in me and it paid off really nicely today."
Graffard added: "I always liked this horse. We had a lot of excuses in the Poule d'Essai [French 2000 Guineas], I couldn't blame the horse, and then he was sick when well beaten in a listed race. Then he won very comfortably in a Group 3 with a nice turn of foot.
"I don't think I'll run him again here on soft ground. I will speak with the entourage but if he's well, why not think to go in the Breeders' Cup Mile? He's a horse we'll probably keep as a four-year-old."
It was another case of what might have been for connections of Rosallion. He had lost out on the nod in the Queen Anne Stakes and then looked unlucky in the Sussex Stakes when failing to peg back the pacemaker, Qirat, who had been allowed too much rope. Rosallion didn't have much of an excuse when putting in a relatively flat performance in the City of York Stakes, but he seemed right back on his game at Longchamp where he turned into the straight with only a couple behind him but finished strongest of all to force a photo.
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