First Look to add his name to stellar Champion Stakes cast

Andre Fabre is poised to add the thriving First Look to the Qipco Champion Stakes following his win in the Prix Dollar on Arc weekend.

The four-year-old, who was acquired by leading owners Wathnan Racing after finishing second to Look De Vega in last year’s French Derby, has excelled this summer and having outbattled Goliath at Deauville in his penultimate outing, recorded a third straight success when downing Bay City Roller at ParisLongchamp.

The son of Lope De Vega could now get the chance to become the latest French-trained raider to triumph on British Champions Day, in a race Gallic contenders have a fine record, and one Fabre has won twice previously when hosted at its former home, Newmarket.

The owners’ racing adviser Richard Brown said: “All the signs are that he has come out of the Prix Dollar well and as long as the Fabre team continue to be happy with him then we will be supplementing him for the Champion Stakes.

“His form is very good, he beat Goliath at Deauville and has then gone and beaten Bay City Roller where again he was strong at the line and battled. He’s on a steep upward trajectory.

“The Champion Stakes is a really big step up but he has won a Listed race, a Group Three and a Group Two in his last three starts and he keeps pulling it out, so we’ll find out how good he really is on a week Saturday.”

First Look’s addition will strengthen the French hand for this year’s British Champions Day feature, with Francis-Henri Graffard’s Calandagan amongst the leading names set for Ascot in a race where John and Thady Gosden’s Ombudsman heads the ante-post betting.