Benbaun supremacy reaches Longchamp

BENBAUN has made the Curragh his home-from-home but he could not have picked a better place to collect a rare ‘away’ success than the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp yesterday.

Six times victorious at the Curragh, it has been over three years since he won anywhere else and he has given English trainer Mark Wallace plenty of anxious moments.

A predilection for fast ground had been one of the potential stumbling blocks for Benbaun (13-2) but Wallace was happy after taking a look at the track. There was not much to worry about once the five-furlong dash started and Pat Smullen got first run on Kingsgate Native to power home by two lengths.