The third and final Fast-Track Qualifier in France of the 2019/20 All-Weather Championships, the €30,000 Prix Anabaa (3.10pm UK time), takes place at Chantilly tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3.
The six and a half furlong Polytrack event provides the winner with a free and guaranteed start in the £150,000 Betway All-Weather Sprint Championship over six furlongs at Lingfield Park on Finals Day, Good Friday, April 10. City Light, trained by Stephane Wattel, won both races in 2018 before finishing second in the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
A field of seven is headed by Spinning Memories (Pascal Bary/Christophe Soumillon), who drops in class after finishing ninth in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp in October. Spinning Memories finished fourth in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest in August and captured the G3 Prix de Meautry impressively at Deauville on her penultimate start.
Godolphin's Syrtis (Andre Fabre/Mickael Barzalona) is set to tackle sprint distances for the first time. The four-year-old finished second in two G3 contests last season, including behind stablemate Slalom in the Prix Noailles over an extended 10 furlongs at Longchamp in May.
Tour To Paris ended 2019 with a Listed success on turf at Maisons-Laffitte in October and has run well twice on dirt at Meydan this year. Trained by Pia Brandt, he finished fifth in the G3 Dubawi Stakes on January 2 and posted another good effort last time out to be third under top weight in a seven-furlong handicap on February 20.
Tour To Paris has run right up to his best on two previous All-Weather appearances in France, finishing second to City Light in a conditions race at Deauville in August before easily winning a similar contest at the same track later that month.
Brandt said today: "Tour To Paris is very well and should have a good chance tomorrow.
"He is fit and ready after running well in Dubai whereas a few of the others are having their first start of the year in preparation for Dubai or elsewhere.
"My plan is to get him qualified for the sprint on Finals Day, as he has shown before that he acts very well on the All-Weather."
The line-up also features fellow Listed scorers Bakoel Koffie (Mauricio Delcher-Sanchez/Tony Piccone) and Tertius (Markus Nigge/Hugo Journiac).
German challenger Coco City (Hella Sauer/Antoine Hamelin) and We Go (Henri-Alex Pantall/Pierre Charles-Boudot), who has won both of his starts on the All-Weather, complete the seven runners.
A quality card at Chantilly also sees G1 Canadian International third Ziyad (Carlos Laffon-Parias/Maxime Guyon) begin his 2020 campaign in the €30,000 Prix Darshaan (2.00pm UK time, seven runners) over just shy of 10 furlongs.
Lucky Team (Joel Boisnard/Theo Bachelot), winner of the £150,000 Bombardier All-Weather Mile Championship on Finals Day in 2018, faces six rivals in the €30,000 Prix Montjeu (4.20pm UK time) over a mile.
