Hurricane LaneHurricane Lane © Elliott Chouraqui/Scoop DygaEurope

Hurricane Lane in breathtaking Grand Prix de Paris win

The son of Frankel won the Gr.1 Grand Prix de Paris by an imperious six-length distance from his nearest rival.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 15th July 2021:

Unbeaten other than when losing both front shoes in the Gr.1 Epsom Derby, Godolphin's Hurricane Lane continued his rampage through the European calendar with an emphatic six-length success in Wednesday's Gr.1 Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp.

Given a tow to the two-furlong marker by Ballydoyle's The Mediterranean, the impressive Gr.1 Irish Derby hero set sail by that rival there and powered to the line as Wordsworth followed him at almost the same distance as he had when third in the Curragh Classic. Third was the Gr.2 King Edward VII Stakes winner Alenquer.

"What a horse," jockey William Buick said of the 17-10 favourite. " The horse is a superstar and it was very smooth, smoother than Ireland as there was a much better rhythm. For him, the pace felt normal which is the sign of a good horse and you could see from the 400-metre marker his turn of foot. He has a very good mind and is a beautiful horse. This track is perfect for him and he liked the ground, which is on the easy side of good - it's taken the rain very well - so I'm sure the team will consider him for the Arc in October."

Now that Hurricane Lane has upped the ante, it will take a special performance from stablemate Adayar (Frankel) in next Saturday's Gr.1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes to elbow him out of the picture for the 3rd October showpiece and send him to the Gr.1 St Leger instead.

Charlie Appleby has a quandary now as he plots the course of his two star three-year-old colts. "He's obviously been a very exciting horse to deal with and he's only been beaten once in his life and that was in the Derby when I felt inexperience caught us out," he said. "Today's performance has franked him as one of the best three-year-olds in Europe and he's an exciting horse. As we always do, we'll allow the dust to settle but you would have to be thinking about him as a serious contender for the Arc. We'll give him a bit of a break now, because he's run in an English Derby, an Irish Derby and then backed it up two and a half weeks later in a Grand Prix de Paris."

"He deserves to have a break, but whether he can give himself a break is another thing," Appleby added. "He ran in the Grand Prix because he'd come out of the Irish Derby so well. He has a great constitution. He has a great mind and he shows his wellbeing in the mornings. A huge team effort goes into the way the horses are running at the moment and I'm delighted for his Highness Sheikh Mohammed."