Behkabad, a three-year-old son of Cape Cross, established himself as a leading contender for next month’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on 12 September when coming with an impressive late run to land the G2 Prix Niel at Longchamp.
Settled just off the pace under Christophe Lemaire, Behkabad battled superbly in the home straight to get up in the shade of the post and deny Planteur by a head.
The Aga Khan’s homebred has now won six times from eight starts, including a win in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris on his last start. He is now joint-favourite to take the Arc at Longchamp in three weeks’ time.
Also on Sunday, two-year-old filly Bezique (also by Cape Cross) made it two wins from two starts and added her first Black type win when landing the Listed Premio Repubbliche Marinare in Rome.
Bred by Aston House Stud, Bezique is out of the winning Peintre Celebre mare Batik, a half-sister to Halling's G3 winner and G1 Melbourne Cup runner-up Bauer.
