Falco claims French Guineas

Racing : Falco ran out a comfortable winner of the French 2,000 Guineas at Longchamp.

Trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias and ridden by Olivier Peslier, the 20-1 chance avoided any traffic problems and swept to the front with a powerful run just over two furlongs from home.

Despite tiring towards the finish, he still had clear daylight between himself and the chasing pack at the line.

With 19 runners, the one-mile Group One feature always threatened to be a rough race and so it proved, with the field strung out like washing entering the home straight.

But Peslier, sat just off the early pace and on the outside of the field, always had Falco out of trouble and asked his mount to take command with over a quarter of a mile to run.

The response was impressive and ultimately proved decisive as the Frankie Dettori-ridden Rio De La Plata (5-1) stayed on for second without ever threatening to reel in the easy winner.

Third place went to River Proud, who belied his price tag of 25-1 and looked unlucky not to finish closer.

After encountering trouble in the starting stalls, he had to come from a long way back in the straight and was finishing best of all at the line.