French Guineas: Aidan O'Brien saddled his first Classic winner of the year as Astronomer Royal - the outsider of his quartet - came from out of the ruck to claim the Poule d'Essai des Poulains at Longchamp yesterday.
The 33 to 1 shot's victory was a marked improvement on his sixth-place finish in last month's Prix de Fontainebleau over the course and distance, and provided O'Brien with his third success in the race.
Colm O'Donoghue's mount overhauled Jim Bolger's Creachadoir in the closing stages for a half-length victory, with O'Brien's supplementary entry Honoured Guest third and his Excellent Art fourth.
O'Brien said: "Colm gave him a great ride today and learned a lot from him in the Fontainebleau. It is great for him and is first big winner for us.
"All the horses have been coming on from their first runs for some reason.
"All of them have been working well and they all ran well.
"When they do that it is hard to single out one, but this horse had come on for his debut run.
"A lot of those horses look to have Group One class, and it is unusual to have so many at that level.
"They all look like Royal Ascot horses that have ran here and they could go for the St James's Palace."
Excellent Art's jockey Jamie Spencer picked up a 10-day suspension for causing interference and will be out of action May 22nd-31st inclusive.
Finsceal Beo's bid to seal the middle leg of an unprecedented 1,000 Guineas treble came unstuck as Bolger's supremely-talented filly was nailed by Darjina in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.
Just seven days after her runaway victory at Newmarket, Bolger sent her to Paris in the hope of registering a double which has only been achieved three times previously.
But the dream ended in nail-biting fashion as Christophe Soumillon brought Alain de Royer-Dupre's unbeaten charge from the rear of the field to collect by a head.
Kevin Manning set sail for home on the 4 to 11 favourite when a gap appeared over two furlongs out and, as at Newmarket, she powered clear along the rail with a telling burst of speed.
Soumillon fired his mount up though and she kept finding to reel in the Irish raider and score for owner Princess Zahra Aga Khan.
Bolger was, however, far from downcast in the aftermath and felt a heavy thunderstorm which drenched the track before the second race played its part in his filly's defeat.
He said: "How can I be disappointed with a filly like that? "She has run a good race but Kevin said the ground affected her speed.
"It all went well but the shower before racing didn't help at all.
"She was very well coming here and was two kilos heavier thabefore Newmarket so that race can't have taken anything out of her.
"It's on to the Curragh now for the Irish 1,000 Guineas, where hopefully she will get faster ground."
Darjina's owner Princess Zahra was delighted to take the race : "She comes from a very consistent family and they are quite an unexpected and rapidly growing group."
Peace Offering (13 to 8 favourite) built on his seasonal bow at Newmarket last weekend to land the Group Three Prix de Saint-Georges for trainer David Nicholls.
The speedy seven-year-old battled with Beauty Is Truth for much of the five-furlong dash but was well on top close home under his son, Adrian.
The trainer said: "The plan was to go to Newmarket and then come here. He's in the Dash at Epsom and that is worth a lot of money so we will think about it."
