Westerner hot fancy to confirm status

WESTERNER will start a warm favourite to confirm his status as the best stayer in Europe when he bids for back-to-back victories in the Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp tomorrow.

Elie Lellouche’s brilliant five-year-old will be taken on by eight rivals in the ‘French St Leger’, including the Hughie Morrison-trained Alcazar and Alain de Royer-Dupre’s Behkera, who finished second and third in last year’s race.

The all-aged Group One is held over an extended mile and seven furlongs of the Paris track.