Conseil de Paris Preview: Golden opportunity for Nagano

Third in the Qatar Prix Foy, a length and a half behind Anthony Van Dyck, since second in the Caulfield Cup (Gr1) in Australia, then winner of the Polish Arc, the Czech raider Nagano Gold (Sixties Icon) finds in this Prix du Conseil de Paris (Gr2) a great opportunity to get his well-deserved reward, in an open field with various profiles such as Aramhes (Kendargent), who was promising, Soft Light (Authorized), second in the Grand Prix de Deauville Lucien Barrière (Gr2) this Summer, Dariyma (City Zip), third last time out in the Prix Dollar (Gr2), the astonishing Eudaimonia (Vision d'État), the 3-year-old Mare Australis (Australia) and above all the Irish colt Baron Samedi (Harbor Watch), winner of his four last races, all handicaps ...

• 1. ARAMHES (h4, FRA by Kendargent and Anjella, by Monsun) Weight: 9-2 / Rating: 98lbs

Trained at Chantilly by Carla O’Halloran, he was part of the French hopefuls at the start of the 2019 season but did not meet his destiny. Out from June to October, then from October to August, he has just returned to success and can fully rehabilitate himself here.

• 2. SOFT LIGHT (h4, FRA by Authorized and Light Saber, by Kendor) Weight: 9-2 / Rating: 110lbs

Trained in Deauville by Jean-Claude Rouget, second in the Prix Hocquart Longines (Gr2) then 5th in the Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris (Gr1), he hasn't yet quite done that well at the best level since, even if he finished second in the Lucien Barrière Grand Prix de Deauville (Gr2), 6.5 lengths behind Telecaster. He finished only fifth at Saint-Cloud since then …

• 3. NAGANO GOLD (h6, GB by Sixties Icon and Never Enough, by Monsun) Weight: 9-2 / Rating: 115lbs

Trained in the Czech Republic by Vaclav Luka, he finished third in the last Qatar Prix Foy (Gr3) in September, one and a half length behind Anthony Van Dyck, since second in the Caulfield Cup (Gr1) in Australia. He won the Polish Arc since that and finds in this a great opportunity to succeed.

• 4. FOLAMOUR (g5, GB by Intello and Zagzig, by Selkirk) Weight: 9-2 / Rating: 105lbs

Trained in Chantilly by André Fabre, he hasn't done so well lately and hardly any clue suggests the possibility of an awakening right now. On his best class, however, he would have a very good chance in such a field.

• 5. DARIYMA (f4, FRA by City Zip and Darma, by Danehill Dancer) Weight: 8-13 / Rating: 105lbs

Trained in Chantilly by Alain de Royer Dupré, she started in July at the age of 3 over 10 furlongs ... She ended up winning her Listed a year later, then finished fourth in the Prix Jean Romanet (Gr1) last summer, without being able to do better twice afterwards.

• 6. EUDAIMONIA (f5, FRA by State Vision and Elenya, by Lawman) Weight: 8-13 / Rating: 94lbs

Trained in the Sarthe by Édouard Monfort, she has won four of her last five outings including three races this year, and twice in handicaps, going up 22lbs on the scale of weights.

• 7. MARE AUSTRALIS (c3, IRE by Australia and Miramare, by Rainbow Quest) Weight: 8-10 / Rating: 97lbs

Trained at Chantilly by André Fabre, this 3-year-old raced only three times, and won twice, the first in Munich at 2, the second most recently in a Listed at Chantilly in June.

• 8. BARON SAMEDI (g3, GB by Harbor Watch and Dame Shirley, by Haafhd) Weight: 8-10 / Rating: 97lbs

Trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien, bought € 3,500 as a weanling at the Irish sales, he has won four consecutive handicaps since he was gelded at the end of August. He is trying his luck for the first time in a Group race.