Sarafina shines at Saint-Cloud

Sarafina strengthened her claims for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with a fine success in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

The Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained 4-9 favourite again showed a beguiling turn of foot to take this Group One over a mile and a half – despite refusing to settle early on.

With Cirrus Des Aigles having set a lackadaisical pace, Christophe Lemaire’s mount only got going at the death, but the response was as swift as it was decisive.

Indian Days, trained in Lincolnshire by James Given, finished last of the five runners.

Sarafina, owned by the Aga Khan and third in the Arc in 2010, was left unchanged at 12-1 for the Longchamp feature in October.

Earlier on the card, the winning post came just in time for Pascal Bary’s Testosterone in the Abu Dhabi Prix de Malleret.

Stephane Pasquier was soon in front in the Group Two contest and the pair held a decent advantage turning for home.

The challengers began to make serious inroads inside the final two furlongs, but 2-1 favourite Testosterone just held on by a neck from Campanillas.