Coroebus will look to extend Godolphin and Charlie Appleby’s excellent record this season in Group 1s over 1600m in Sunday’s €1 million Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville. 

Having won the G1 2000 Guineas (1600m) in fantastic style, Coroebus scrambled home in a falsely-run race at Royal Ascot but will arrive here in what Appleby describes as “great shape” after missing a previous intended engagement at Goodwood.

Appleby said: “He’s well over his setback now and he’s put some nice work in over the past week and he goes into the weekend in great shape.

“It’s a strong renewal of the Prix Jacques le Marois but we’re going there in good order and I’m keen to see him back.

Appleby added: “He’s unbeaten this year and I feel that, if we see anywhere near the Coroesbus that we saw in the Guineas, he’s going to be a very big player and the one to beat.”

One notable absentee is the William Haggas-trained Maljoom but Coroebus still faces some top class rivals in what is one of Europe’s very top all-age races at this distance.
Bathrat Leon outran his odds of 66-1 when leading the Sussex Stakes (G1) until the final 200 metres at Goodwood last month, and was only just denied third on the line. 

Rising Japanese star Ryusei Sakai will again be in the saddle aboard the four-year-old, who also caused a surprise at Meydan in March when making all to score in the Godolphin Mile (G2), his first try on dirt. 

Yoshito Yahagi, one of Japan’s most internationally-minded trainers, was present on Wednesday morning to supervise Bathrat Leon’s breeze over 1400 metres of the Deauville straight.

“I think it was a beautiful gallop,” said Yahagi. “He was very smooth and moved well and I’m very satisfied.

“He only gave perhaps 80 per cent this morning.”

While Bathrat Leon has shown his adaptability – not only in handling the Dubai dirt but also the downhill turns of Goodwood – Yahagi says he will only know on Sunday whether a straight mile is suitable for the son of Kizuna.

“It will be his first time on a straight track and I am a little bit concerned about that,” said Yahagi, who also confirmed Bathrat Leon will contribute to what is likely to be a strong pace on Sunday, adding: “We want him to lead.”

State Of Rest could be another pace angle early on, given he will be making his first start over 1600m since finishing third in a Listed race at the Curragh in June 2021.  He built a reputation as a horse that liked to close from off the speed when compiling a remarkable series of international G1 victories over 2000m in the US, Australia and France.

But jockey Shane Crosse changed the script at Ascot in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes when taking matters into his own hands and making all.

Trainer Joseph O’Brien is clearly confident that State Of Rest has the raw speed to come back to 1600m, and it would be a surprise to see Crosse revert to hold-up tactics.  The two fillies in the race, Inspiral and Prosperous Voyage, may be more likely to be ridden for a turn of foot, a comment that also applies to the favourite, Coroebus.