Jalmoud third in G1 Grand Prix de Paris

Jalmoud acquitted himself well on his G1 debut when taking third in the Grand Prix de Paris, with Roman Candle finishing fourth in the 12-furlong highlight at Longchamp, France, on Sunday, 14 July.

Three-year-old New Approach colt Jalmoud (Charlie Appleby/James Doyle) broke well and raced in a clear second behind Western Australia, as Roman Candle (Andre Fabre/Mickael Barzalona) settled in fifth of the eight runners.

Jalmoud stayed on to briefly press for the lead with a furlong and a half to race and battled away as Japan went clear inside the final furlong but was passed by Slalom in the closing stages to go down by a length and a quarter in total.

Roman Candle, a three-year-old son of Le Havre, progressed to fourth entering the final furlong and galloped out well to come home a neck behind Jalmoud.

Japan beat Slalom by half a length in 2m 27.07s on good to soft ground.

Charlie Appleby commented: “We were delighted with the performance of Jalmoud, who has put up a career-best performance. We came here hoping to get a G1 placing and we have achieved that, which is great.

“James Doyle said afterwards that a mile and a half is definitely Jalmoud’s best trip and we will look to keeping him over this distance now.

“The G3 Gordon Stakes at Goodwood (12f, Thursday, 1 August) might come a bit too soon and another option could be the G2 Grand Prix de Deauville (12.5f, Deauville, Sunday, 25 August).

“We have given Jalmoud three quick runs now but he has taken them well, so we will see how he comes out of this race.”

Lisa-Jane Graffard of Godolphin said: “Roman Candle ran a really good race and will have some nice opportunities over a mile and a half later in the year.

“He is horse who really appreciates this trip and we feel that he will act better on softer ground. “We will wait and see how he comes out of this race before deciding any future plans.”