Aidan O’Brien concedes he is “fighting time” in his bid to get Kingsbarns to the Investec Derby.

Roderic O’Connor survived an alarming drift to his right to claim the Group One Criterium International at Saint-Cloud.

IN a routine act of Gallic indifference, the French – having mopped up Newmarket’s 2000 Guineas with Makfi – have turned their backs on Epsom in favour of keeping their equine blue bloods at home for Sunday’s equivalent colts’ classic at Chantilly.