Ground should be perfect for Trueshan in Sunday’s Prix Royal-Oak in France

The ground will be testing for the G1 Prix Royal-Oak at Saint-Cloud on Sunday, which is good news for the mud-loving Trueshan, who sidestepped the Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Champions Day to wait for equally prestigious prize.

Alan opted out of Ascot as understandably he did not fancy taking on Kyprios again, having twice seen a disappearing rear end of Europe’s champion stayer this season, and missing Ascot also gave him another week to prepare Trueshan, who as is his norm gave everything when chasing home Kyprios in the Prix Cadran at Longchamp’s Arc meeting.

Bookmakers have Trueshan second-favourite behind Andre Fabre’s smart four-year-old Sevenna’a Knight, who since winning in G3 company over this distance at Longchamp last month has run a blinder to finish fifth behind Bluestocking in the Arc.

However, Trueshan needs only to finish in the first four in this eight-strong field to smash through the £2 mark in prize money won. He has been a fantastic servant for the Singula Partnership and everyone at Barbury and, though Sevenna’s Knight is a worthy market-leader, being half Trueshan’s age, if Hollie Doyle can get our stable-star into a good rhythm it will be a major surprise if he does not win more than the £18,000 necessary to crack the £20m barrier.