Waldgeist Storms Clear To Win Prix Ganay

Waldgeist (5c Galileo - Walderche, by Monsun) showed his class when running out an impressive winner of the first European Group 1 of the season, the Prix Ganay at Longchamp on Sunday.

Sunday saw the Andre Fabre-trained chesnut drop back in trip to ten and a half furlongs, the same distance over which he finished an agonizingly close second in the Group 1 Prix de Jockey Club two years ago, and just a little further than his maiden Group 1 victory in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

Ridden now, and on both aforementioned occasions, by Pierre-Charles Boudot, he settled behind fellow Group 1 winners Study Of Man and Ghaiyyath for much of the way, waiting until two furlongs out to make his move. Producing a strong challenge approaching the final furlong, he soon led and powered clear to score by four and a half lengths, his victory never in doubt.

Fabre later said that the King George would be Waldgeist’s main target this summer and earmarked the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud as a possibility before then. Galileo himself, of course, won the King George in 2001 and saw his sons win in 2011 (Nathaniel) and 2016 (Highland Reel).

Owned by Gestut Ammerland and Newsells Park, Waldgeist is the first foal out of Group 3 winner Waldlerche, herself closely-related to Masked Marvel (Montjeu).