Fabrice Chappet scored a landmark first win in Britain when Pizzicato (11/4 favourite) scraped home by a short-head from Deputise (9/2) in the £150,000 Ladbrokes 3 Year Old All-Weather Championship after looking set to score much more easily when arriving on the scene full of running. The pair pulled well clear.
Chappet said: "Pizzicato is having a great year and came here in good form, after a good win in a stakes race at Chantilly last time. This was worth a try, and when he got to the front he probably thought the job was done, which is why he won only narrowly.
"He came there looking as if he would win very easily, but the second horse is very tough. Luckily Christophe knows him well and he knows the track."
Chappet, who won the 2017 French 1,000 Guineas with Precieuse and last year's Prix Jean Prat with Intellogent, added: "He's a stakes winner and so has to run in Group races now. He doesn't have to run on this sort of surface, but when he races on turf he has to have good ground."
The gelding is owned by Antoine Gilibert, who is the president of Compiegne racecourse and was at Lingfield to enjoy the day with his wife and son, plus five grandchildren.
SUMPTUOUS SOUMILLON STEERS PIZZICATO TO SUCCESS
Christophe Soumillon showed why he is one of the best jockeys in the world with a well-judged ride aboard the well-backed 11/4 favourite Pizzicato in the £150,000 Ladbrokes 3-Y-O All-Weather Championship.
Trained in France by Fabrice Chappet, the three-year-old son of Dabirism travelled stylishly into contention and knuckled down gamely in the closing stages to defeat the game William Haggas-trained Deputise (9/2) by a short-head.
Soumillon has ridden two turf winners at Lingfield Park, but this was his first success on the All-Weather at the Surrey venue.
The French-based jockey, who recently captured back-to-back renewals of the G1 Dubai World Cup aboard Godolphin's Thunder Snow, said: "Pizzicato did it well today.
"He travelled into the race well, but when he hits the front, he tends to stop and that is what he did today.
"I was quite lucky that he could hang in and come close to the horse that finished second as that kept him concentrated all the way to the line.
"They went a good pace up front. I was hoping to ride Pizzicato a bit closer, but we did not jump too well from the gate, so I had to ride him further back.
"But in the end, everything worked out very well."
SECOND AGAIN FOR HAGGAS
The William Haggas-trained, James Doyle-ridden Deputise filled the second spot in the fifth race, the £150,000 Ladbrokes 3-Year-Old All-Weather Championship. It was the second time for a place today after Island of Life claimed the silver medal in the third contest, the £150,000 Ladbrokes All-Weather Fillies' And Mares' Championship.
Sent off a 9/2 chance, Deputise came home a short-head to the winner, 11/4 favourite Pizzicato, and pleased trainer Haggas' wife Maureen, who was deputising for her husband.
"He ran great". said Haggas "We had a good run round, but the winner came cantering up and I thought he was going to win by three lengths. I thought our horse battled on really well."
"He has improved a bit on earlier efforts. I can't fault him really."
Jockey Doyle added: "Everything went as good as could be expected. The winner came to me cantering and my fella dug really deep."
