Magny Cours and Rashke head Sunday’s Longchamp quartet

Unbeaten three-year-old colts Magny Cours and Rashke feature among four Godolphin runners as racing returns to the redeveloped Longchamp racecourse in France on Sunday, 8 April.

The Andre Fabre-trained duo both go for the nine-furlong G3 Prix La Force on turf, an early trial for the Prix du Jockey Club (the French Derby), with Magny Cours (Mickael Barzalona) having stayed on strongly for an easy three-length victory on his only start in a mile Polytrack maiden at Chantilly in November.

Rashke (Vincent Cheminaud) also enjoyed an impressive debut win in a Polytrack maiden over a mile at Chantilly on 15 March, when he quickened well after missing the break to score by three and a half lengths.

A field of 10 for the Prix La Force includes Listed scorer Chilean, plus three-time winner Blue Blue Eyes and debut scorers Study Of Man and Stable Genius.

Lisa-Jane Graffard of Godolphin commented: “Magny Cours won his maiden very nicely at the end of his two-year-old year, but this is obviously a big step up on his seasonal return.

“He has wintered well and is an impressive-looking individual.

“The ground is a bit of an unknown factor, but progeny of Medaglia D’Oro seem to be pretty versatile and we hope that he can run well.

“Rashke was unraced at two, but won his only start impressively last month.

“We are slightly less confident over whether he can handle the ground, but we will find out if he can cope with testing conditions.”

Sunday’s feature contest at Longchamp is the G2 Prix d’Harcourt over 10 furlongs, in which Soleil Marin (Andre Fabre/Mickael Barzalona) tries to bounce back from a disappointing seasonal return in the G3 Prix Exbury over the same trip at Saint-Cloud on 17 March.

The four-year-old colt enjoyed a productive spring campaign last year, following up victory in an extended 10-furlong Listed race at Saint-Cloud in March with a game success over the same trip in the G3 Prix Noailles at Chantilly the following month.

His 11 rivals are headed by last season’s Prix du Jockey Cub second Waldgeist and Prix Exbury victor Air Pilot.

Agathonia (Henri-Alex Pantall/Mickael Barzalona) was beaten a neck in a G3 contest at Hanover, Germany, in October and the consistent four-year-old Street Cry filly goes in search of a first Listed victory in the 12-runner Prix Zarkava over an extended 10 furlongs on her seasonal return.

Lisa-Jane Graffard added: “Soleil Marin is on a recovery mission, having disappointed on his last couple of runs.

“I think you have to draw a line on his run in the Prix Exbury, which was run on very testing ground, and we are hoping that he can run a better race.

“Agathonia was always a filly who has the scope to improve from three to four and has wintered well.

“We know that she likes soft ground and hope that she can run well on her first start of the season.”