Richard Hannon’s Olympic Glory paid his new owner an immediate divided with a Group One victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Grand Criterium) at Longchamp.
In four previous starts, the two-year-old’s sole defeat had come at the hands of ante-post 2000 Guineas favourite Dawn Approach in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.
He had subsequently won the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket and the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood, and was recently purchased by Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani.
Victory looked unlikely two furlongs out, however, as Kevin Ryan’s outsider Indian Jade loomed large.
But champion jockey-elect Richard Hughes asked his mount for a major effort and he delivered, holding off What A Name with Indian Jade running a big race in third.
“I’m delighted, he’s done it very well. Sheikh Joaan bought him three weeks ago and he’ll be very pleased,” Richard Hannon junior, assistant to his father, said.
Paddy Power cut the winner to 16-1 from 20s for the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Wizz Kid, the sole French runner in the Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye, came with a late flourish to deny Yorkshire-trained raiders Mayson and Hamish McGonagall.
Outpaced in the early stages, Gerald Mosse – winning the Abbaye for the first time – looked to have a mountain to climb as Mayson and Hamish McGonagall pulled away from the field inside the final furlong.
However, Robert Collet’s filly relished the testing ground and began to make relentless progress, getting on top close home in a time the slowest recorded of the last 12 years in the prestigious sprint.
