Kieren Fallon will be a busy man at Belmont Park tonight with five Breeders' Cup rides for Aidan O'Brien, but the former champion jockey is then scheduled to make a transatlantic dash to Paris afterwards in order to team up with Poseidon Adventure at St Cloud tomorrow.
The Ballydoyle-trained colt, a narrow winner at Newbury last Saturday under Johnny Murtagh, is one of six runners for the Group One Criterium International at the Paris track.
The mile event has thrown up some superstar names in recent years, but it is a rare juvenile blank for O'Brien, who trained Chevalier to be a neck runner-up to Dalakhani in 2002 and whose Acropolis was third to Bago a year later.
Up against the Irish horse this time will be the Aga Khan-owned, Andre Fabre-trained Carlotamix, the mount of another Breeders' Cup jockey Christophe Soumillon.
Fallon is also engaged in the following Group Three Prix Perth over a mile, where he will team up with the Tom Hogan-trained Common World, a winner at a similar grade in Germany on his last start. The ground at St Cloud is forecast to be testing.
It's an all-jumping card at Naas today, where Tony Martin provides a very interesting runner in the handicap chase in Dun Doire.
Conor O'Dwyer's mount won a handicap hurdle over three miles at Limerick last May off a mark of 86 and has a first handicap start over fences today off 79.
His last run over fences was a year ago, and this is a first chase start at two miles, but Dun Doire is a point-to-point winner and could be the medium of another successful gamble.
Another interesting contender is Ballyagran in the novice hurdle and the five-year-old can continue Noel Meade's recent hot streak.
Ballyagran was impressive in beating Carthalawn at Cork last time and looks a stayer with a future.
Carthalawn himself runs in the opening maiden hurdle, but there are a number of unexposed types in this contest that could yet be a serious threat, none more so than the ex-Aidan O'Brien-trained Coconut Beach, who was deemed good enough to go to the Royal Ascot at York meeting last June.
Optimus Prince has a first racecourse start in the bumper, but he already is a winner having scored in a point-to-point at Dromahane.
The rising star of the amateur ranks, Colman Sweeney, teams up with the horse who looks a promising sort.
