French Claim outclasses Navan rivals

Irish Derby third French Claim is to be campaigned over staying trips in future having landed short odds on his comeback at Navan.

Trained by Paddy Twomey, French Claim was beaten only five lengths in the St Leger at Doncaster before disappointing in the Irish Cesarewitch.

Sent off the 4-9 favourite, he had no trouble in winning the Navan Racecourse Race under Billy Lee, with his main predicted market rival Okita Soushi an absentee, and Twomey is now eyeing up the Vintage Crop Stakes back at Navan next month.

"It was a nice to get a lead (from front-running Oriental Eagle), he has form on that ground, won on it in Listowel and Cork but he is pretty versatile. He's good fresh," said Twomey.

"The end of last year was a bit of a mess so hopefully this year we’ll have a good year. I’d say he’ll come back here for the Vintage Crop Stakes.

"He was third in the Irish Derby, but he hasn’t won a stakes race yet, so we’ll try to win one and take the steps from there.

"Today was just to take the first step and hopefully he’ll improve. Staying isn’t a problem to him."

French Claim is a dominant winner of the Navan Racecourse Race, with the four-year-old scoring in style on seasonal reappearance for the @wjlee24786 and @paddytwomey team