Preview: France, Sunday 1.30pm GMT

Cagnes-sur-Mer: Prix de la Californie (Listed) 1m, AW, 3yo

GAY KELLEWAY will swap snowy Newmarket for the French Riviera as Swing Alone (Francois-Xavier Bertras) contests the first Listed event of the Cagnes meeting.

Having made a fine debut when fifth in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, the son of Celtic Swing gave his race away when becoming worked up before both the Group 3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket and Group 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud.

Gay Kelleway: pleased with work

  PICTURE: Martin Lynch  

“We’ve been working him in a hood and he seems a lot better now, his work in fact is brilliant off level weights with older horses like Uphold and Layline,” said a hopeful Kelleway on Friday. “We took him for a racecourse gallop at Kempton where he really worked well, and he was out onthe track at Cagnes this morning and we were happy with him there.”

Didier Prod’homme enjoyed a runaway success at the track with Da Paolini earlier this week, and is doubly represented here with Robert Le Diable (Pierr-Charles Boudot) and Reality (Sylvain Ruis).

“He [Robert Le Diable] won over 1300m at Deauville last time, and he’s been working well,” said Prod’homme. “While there’s a little uncertainty about the distance he’s in very good condition.”

There’s no concern over the trip for Reality (Sylvain Ruis), who beat Bling King by a comfortable length and a half at Cagnes in January.

“We always liked her, but she had a couple of small problems last year,” addeded Prod’homme. “Now after two wins including a very easy success last time she’s beginning to show her quality.”

Visually the most impressive trial for this race was the victory of Final Destination (Mario Hofer/Andreas Suborics), who bolted up over course and distance at the beginning of the month.

Also on Sunday

Cagnes-sur-Mer: Prix de la Riviera Cote d’Azur (Listed) 1m2f, AW, 4yo+ (3.05pm GMT)

Arizona Run (Frederic Rossi/Franck Blondel) is the one of only two among the 11 runners to have won at this level, and accordingly sets the standard after a productive end to last season.

The other Listed winner Pump Pump Boy was back in third when Arizona Run lifted the Listed Coupe de Marseille in September, and Rossi’s four-year-old followed that up with another two fine efforts at Borely.

“He’s in good form, although my horses have seemed to need their first run this winter,” said Rossi on Friday. “It looks the right race to start off with.”

Pump Pump Boy (Marc Pimbonnet/Johan Victoire) does have the benefit of a recent run, having tuned up for this assignment when second to Amazing Beauty (Mickael Figge/Fabrice Veron) over course and distance at the end of January.

 

Got a smartphone? Check out our new mobile web app – featuring cards, results, betting, tips and more – just type m.racingpost.com into your phone’s web browser

 

var $facebookBlock = $(‘#facebook’);
if ($facebookBlock.length){
$facebookBlock.attr(‘allowTransparency’, true);
}