Tragedy for O’Brien hope as Lucayan triumphs

Lucayan, trained by Francois Rohaut, came out on top in a desperately tight finish to the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the French equivalent of the 2000 Guineas, at Longchamp yesterday.

The much-vaunted Dabirsim did himself no favours by racing keen early on for Christophe Soumillon and suffered serious traffic problems when squeezed just over two furlongs out.

Soumillon gathered his mount to challenge again as his pacemaker Veneto gallantly stuck to his guns in front, but looked to be just running out of petrol as he was again tightened up.