Andre Fabre has been at the head of the European trainers’ tree for decades and has lively chances of winning both Monday’s (1 June) Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, the first G1 Classics to be run in this unusual racing season.

These main attractions on the Deauville card – moved from Longchamp because of Coronavirus issues in the Paris region – will take place over the track’s straight 1600m and are part of a seven-race simulcast programme from the Normandy coast.

The big two three-year-old players from Fabre’s Chantilly stable are Victor Ludorum in the Poulains for colts and Tropbeau in the fillies-only Pouliches, both of whom had terrific two-year-old careers with the vibes currently quite strong that they could give the 74-year-old 30-time French champion trainer his eighth Poulains victory and his fourth in the Pouliches.

Once he had hit top stride, Shamardal’s son Victor Ludorum never really looked like getting beaten in his three two-year-old assignments, notably when swooping late to win the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere over Longchamp’s 1600m last October. Reflecting on that win Fabre said: “He likes to come late and overtake horses. He has a big heart and is a beautiful mover.”

So why then did the Godolphin-owned colt get beaten (as a red-hot favourite) on his impatiently-awaited 2020 return, finishing only third – beaten a total of two and a half lengths behind The Summit and Ecrivain – two rivals who are probably destined to try and unseat him again on Sunday – in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau over 1600m at Longchamp? Explanations were invited as to his underwhelming performance in this key trial for the Poulains.

One theory is that Fabre’s low early strike-rate in the immediate aftermath of racing returning in France suggested that his mighty stable was not quite ready to resume normal service. Another is provided by Fabre himself.

“When the pace slowed in the Fontainebleau Victor Ludorum was forced wide,” he said. “He fought for his head a bit and with the ground like that (very soft) I was not 100% disappointed.”

Also worth considering, regarding Victor Ludorum’s Poulains expectations, is a fact provided by racing historians who will point out that some very good horses have lost the Fontainebleau and gone on to win the Poulains.

Unlike Victor Ludorum, Tropbeau did not have an untidy start to 2020 providing her trainer with his first win since the resumption of racing in France when taking Longchamp’s G3 Prix de la Grotte (1600m), the major Pouliches trial for fillies. Admittedly it did require a hardened attitude from the Showcasing filly to narrowly fend off Dream And Do and the winner’s stablemate Tickle Me Green – a pair that could do battle again come Monday – but most observers, including Fabre, reckoned that Tropbeau had won with a bit up her sleeve.

“That was a good test of stamina and she kept battling all the way to the end, getting the 1600m properly. She’s a reliable filly,” Fabre said of Tropbeau.

The latest of Fabre’s seven Poulains wins came last year with Persian King, while the most recent of his three Pouliches scores was achieved in 2011 with Golden Lilac.