€80,000 Thomas Bryon Jockey Club de Turquie (Gr3): Alcantor on his great debuts' course

Friday, 29th September 2023, Saint-Cloud Racecourse (Hauts-de-Seine) – With consummate ease, Alcantor (New Bay) secured victory in the €80,000 Prix Thomas Bryon Jockey-Club de Turquie (Gr3), having been held off the pace in a small field of seven 2-year-olds over 1 mile. A year after the future St Leger (Gr1) winner Continuous, the Édouard de Rothschild representative thus adds his name to the roll of honour of this pivotal springboard for major autumn youngsters' events.

Approaching the home straight in the middle of the course, Alcantor puts a gap of more than two lengths between him and a progressive Saganti (Zarak), who stayed close to the rail and also bided his time. The winner clocked the best time over the final three furlongs at 35.01 seconds. This was over six-tenths of a second faster than his runner-up, who had a more straightforward trip.

Havana Cigar (Havana Grey) remains in third after briefly looking like a contender, having raced at the front from the get-go.

Alcantor was purchased as a weanling for €180,000 by Haras de Meautry at the Deauville breeding sales. His Romanised sister, also a weanling at the time, was later sold for €38,000 at the 2022 breeding sales.

Both are out of Bianca de Medici (Medicean), a winner of two races who has already produced Boscaccio (Mount Nelson), a Group 2 winner in Germany. Further back, we find the family of Treve…