Spectroscope & Floodlight seek G3 success at Maisons-Laffitte

A quirk of the 2016 French fixture list sees three-year-old colts Spectroscope and Floodlight line up in separate G3 races over 10 furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte, France, on Saturday, September 17.

With the redevelopment of Longchamp, the Prix du Prince d’Orange (14.35hrs local time) moves to the north Paris course on a card that also features La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte (15.45hrs local time).

Both colts are trained by Andre Fabre and ridden by Mickael Barzalona, with Spectroscope stepping back up in class for the Prix du Prince d’Orange, having finished fourth in a nine-furlong Listed contest over a mile at Clairefontaine on August 19.

The son of Medaglia d’Oro kept on to take third on his only previous Pattern appearance in the 10-furlong G2 Prix Eugene Adam at Maisons-Laffitte in July and was an impressive five-length winner of a mile Saint-Cloud conditions race the previous month.

His five rivals include Mekhtaal, who was fourth in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris, and G3 runner-up Black Sea.

Floodlight, also by Medaglia d’Oro, tackles older opposition for the first time in the La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte after coming home fourth in Listed company over a mile at Deauville on August 2.

He was the comfortable winner of a 10-furlong Listed contest at Le Lion-d’Angers in July and finished second to subsequent dual G1 winner Almanzor in the G3 Prix de Guiche over nine furlongs at Chantilly in May.

A field of six for La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte also features G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet second Ame Bleue and G2 scorer Now We Can.

Lisa-Jane Graffard of Godolphin commented: "Spectroscope wasn’t quite 100 per cent on his latest start and he may have been under the weather.

"He has good course and distance form in the Prix Eugene Adam and we are hoping that he can bounce back, although we wouldn’t want the ground to cut up too much.

"Floodlight has done well over the course of the year and is in good form. He doesn’t like soft going, so any further rain might be a bit of a disadvantage for him."