Coroebus Bids to Bounce Back in Prix du Moulin

Coroebus  is on a retrieval mission as he returns to France just three weeks after a disappointing run in the Aug. 14 Prix Jacques le Marois (G1), with the Sept. 4 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1) at ParisLongchamp his new target.

Trainer Charlie Appleby will hope this visit to France proves more fruitful as the Qipco Two Thousand Guineas Stakes(G1) hero bids to bounce back from his disappointing fifth behind superfilly Inspiral  at Deauville.

"The Jacques Le Marois was a strange race to watch," said Appleby, who is bidding for his first success in the group 1. "I think they covered the first five furlongs in under a minute. Our plan was to drop in, but (jockey) William (Buick) didn't mean to be quite so detached from the main body of the field.

"Two furlongs out I thought we were an odds-on shot, but he worked so hard to get from the position he was in that maybe it took its toll in the final furlong. That's what I put it down to.

"He has been faultless coming into the weekend, and I'm pleased the ground won't be as quick as it was at Deauville, where I think it was too quick for him."

Coroebus will likely be a short-priced favorite, and the market suggests his chief danger will be The Revenant , who landed the 2020 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) at Ascot for Francis Graffard.

The 7-year-old finished fourth behind Baaeed  in the same race last season and bids for his hat-trick after back-to-back victories at Saint-Cloud, including in the Prix Edmond Blanc (G3) last time.

"He's very well," Graffard said. "Obviously, I'd like a little of the forecast rain to arrive for him, but he has done plenty of work."

In a race with no little depth, there is always danger in thinking the outcome relies solely on whether its chief protagonist performs to the expected level.

Once weight-for-age is taken into account, Coroebus  holds four-pound and six-pound advantages respectively over Order of Australia  and The Revenant.

That is a healthy pointer to his superiority without affording the Two Thousand Guineas winner so much margin for error that he could underperform his Newmarket peak and still be expected to prevail.

Those two nearest ratings rivals have questions of their own to answer. The Revenant is coming back from a layoff dating back to April and will not have his ideal soft conditions, while Order of Australia posted a career-best Racing Post Rating three starts ago when denying Pearls Galore  in the Romanised Minstrel Stakes (G2).