Peintre Celebre, Europe's champion racehorse of 1997, makes his eagerly awaited reappearance in the Group One Prix Ganay at Longchamp on Sunday. Daniel Wildenstein, owner of the runaway Arc de Triomphe hero, harbours no doubts about the colt's physical condition.
The Parisian owner said: "The horse is very fit and, although we hesitated about running plans because of the testing conditions, it is very much on the cards that he will run.
"In any case we are hoping that the ground at Longchamp is less heavy than last weekend, but the horse has won a holding track before."
More will be known about Peintre Celebre's likely rivals today which marks the first forfeit stage of the race.
Meanwhile, Tony Mullins is to run Lady Daisy in America's richest jump race, the $150,000 Royal Chase for the Sport of Kings Challenge, in Keeneland, Kentucky on Friday.
Lady Daisy arrived at in New York last Thursday where she spent a brief spell in quarantine. The Ladbroke Hurdle third, bidding to rebound from a disappointing Champion Hurdle run, will be Jason Titley's first American ride.
"I rode Lady Daisy in the Ladbroke and she put up a cracking effort in third, but was last in the Champion Hurdle when making a lot of the running. She is a nice horse and I would have to say she has a fair chance," Titley said.
Lady Daisy is the only one of the 10 Anglo-Irish nominations for the race to make the transatlantic trip in what will be the first jump race to be staged at Keeneland.
