Supplemented Feed The Flame a market springer for Prix du Jockey Club as field begins to take shape

Racing Post
 
Supplemented Feed The Flame a market springer for Prix du Jockey Club as field begins to take shape

Feed The Flame is now 9-2 clear second favourite for Sunday's Qatar Prix du Jockey Club after trainer Pascal Bary confirmed that connections had already paid the €72,000 supplementary fee before Wednesday morning's deadline. 

Twelve colts were left in the €1.5 million French version of the Derby after Tuesday's second forfeit stage, including Blue Riband Trial winner Epictetus for John and Thady Gosden and the Ballydoyle trio of Cairo, Continuous and Adelaide River, although the last-named is expected to run in the Betfred Derby 24 hours earlier.

When Classic entries were made in mid-February, Feed The Flame was still nearly two months from making his debut, with Bary admitting that, at that stage, the Jockey Club was the furthest thing from his mind.

"He’s only run twice but I think he’s streetwise enough to run very well on Sunday," said Bary, who already has six wins in the race to his name, a record among active trainers. "He’s a big horse and like many of those he took a lot of time to find his action and to develop mentally. When the entries were made I had a hard time imagining he would be in Sunday’s line-up."

Feed The Flame after his dazzling debut success at Longchamp in April

Christophe Soumillon will be aboard Feed The Flame, who has oozed class in his two wins at Longchamp and whose nearest pursuer last time out, First Minister, has subsequently scored at Group 3 level in the Prix Hocquart. 

With quick ground forecast for Sunday, Feed The Flame's come-from-behind style will undoubtedly face a big test, but Bary feels Soumillon will have plenty of time to work his way into the race.

Bary said: "This horse has his own style of running and if you try to put a horse into the red zone earlier than he is used to they aren’t able to sustain it to the finish. He’s worked a couple of times on the track at Chantilly and I think he will be more alert at the start than he has been in his two runs."

Rajapour is set to be one of three Jockey Club runners for Jean-Claude Rouget

Jean-Claude Rouget is set to run three in his quest for a sixth Jockey Club, with stable jockey Cristian Demuro aboard the unbeaten Ace Impact, Ioritz Mendizabal on Rajapour and Maxime Guyon on Padishakh. 

Also standing their ground on Tuesday were Big Rock, who Coral make their 2-1 favourite, as well as Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi

Among those taken out were Derby second favourite Military Order and his Charlie Appleby-trained stablemate Local Dynasty, as well as Royal Scotsman. 

Qatar Prix du Jockey Club

Coral: 2 Big Rock, 9-2 Feed The Flame, 7 Continuous, 8 Marhaba Ya Sanafi, 9 American Flag, 10 Cairo, 12 Ace Impact, 14 Epictetus, 16 Adelaide River, 20 Winter Pudding, 25 Flight Leader, Padishakh, Rajapour

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