It is not a large field that awaits Saint-Cloud racegoers for Saturday’s Gr.1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, just five going to post. All eyes will be on Westover, and his pace-setter, Malabu Drive, who will be picking up the not-inconsequential 5th-placed sum of €11,440 for an easy day’s work.

Both running in the Juddmonte colours, Westover will be clear favourite for the race. Unlucky third in the 2022 Epsom Derby, he was a brilliant winner of the Irish edition a few weeks later.  

Ralph Beckett’s colt started this season in Dubai where he finished runner-up to the phenomenal Equinox in the Sheema Classic, a race in which he beat Zagrey by 2.25 lengths. He will once again be taking on Yann Barberot’s colt, off level weights, and it’s not hard to tell which to back.

His latest outing saw him run second to Emily Upjohn in the Coronation Cup last month, in which he beat Tünnes by a further 12.5 lengths, and Peter Schiergen’s colt looks notably outclassed on this occasion. 

Excellent winner of his comeback race at Chantilly, Junko could manage only 6th in the Dubai Duty Free, prior to flopping in the Prix d’Ispahan at the end of May. He takes his chances beyond 2100m for the first time, and were he not trained by André Fabre, he would be considered no more than a rank outsider.

While predicting the future may not be an easy practice, it is difficult to see Westover being beaten at Saint-Cloud. He can be his own worst enemy, as he displayed before the King George, but if he plays the game, the race is his for the taking.

Should Beckett’s colt win, there is a strong chance he will return to France for the Arc, just as Alpinista did last year.