Delzangles hoping stay at home policy pays off

Mikel Delzangles is keeping his fingers crossed the decision to bypass the Investec Derby at Epsom in favour of the French equivalent pays off with his unbeaten colt Kesampour.

The son of King’s Best won comfortably on his two appearances at Saint-Cloud as a juvenile and made a winning return in Listed company at the same track at the beginning of April.

A step up to Pattern company did not stop his winning run as he landed the Prix Greffulhe – a race won last year by subsequent Epsom hero Pour Moi.

But instead of making the cross-Channel journey, Kesampour will stay at home and face 19 opponents in Sunday’s Prix du Jockey Club over 10 and a half furlongs at Chantilly.

“He is in very good form and we decided to be prudent and stay at home rather than going for Epsom,” said Delzangles.

“It will be interesting to see what happens with the ground, but I don’t think it should be an issue for him either way.

“There is some rain forecast, but he handles softer ground well and even if it ends up being faster ground, I think he should be fine.

“He is drawn in stall five, which I am very pleased with. It is very important not to be drawn too wide at Chantilly, so I’m happy.

“It would be fantastic to win a Group One with him. He is unbeaten and hopefully he still will be after Sunday.”

Kesampour is one of two runners in the French Classic for owner the Aga Khan, the other being the Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained Lunayir.

With retained French rider Christophe Lemaire unsurprisingly siding with Kesampour, Johnny Murtagh, the owner’s retained rider in Britain and Ireland, comes in for the ride on Lunayir.

De Royer-Dupre, who has saddled six previous winners of the French Derby, said: “Everything is OK with the horse. It is a big step up in class for him, but the horse looks well and I am very happy with him.

“His first line of form this year is very good. He finished very close to Albion, who then finished very close to Kesampour in the Prix Greffulhe.

“Our horse won at Chantilly last time and I hope it is good ground on Sunday as he prefers that to softer ground.

He is drawn in stall 15, which is not the best, but he could be in stall 20, which would be much worse.”