Feed The Flame held off strong U.K. and Irish opposition to win the Grand Prix de Paris on Friday for France.
Outsider Winter Pudding set the early pace with Oaks winner Soul Sister settled on the inside rail by Kieran Shoemark and eventual winner Feed The Flame at the rear. As the field entered the straight, Peking Opera began to mount a challenge for Tom Marquand with stablemate Adelaide River making steady headway to the front. Soul Sister was forced to switch to the outside to gain a clear run, yet it was Feed The Flame with Cristian Demuro aboard who finished with an impressive turn of foot to deny the international horses at the line to win by one length. Adelaide River held on for second with Soul Sister a neck back in third.
Feed The Flame is by Kingman from the Montjeu mare Knyazhna and remains unbeaten at Longchamp, having won his first two starts at the Paris track. He was a solid fourth in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club behind Ace Impact and the Kingman colt seemed to relish the step up to twelve furlongs.
Following the race, trainer Pascal Bary said "He's a great horse. I knew the trip would be in his favour and although he broke slow, he needs time to warm up and he has terrific acceleration. I won this race for Juddmonte with Zambezi Son and both horses had exactly the same first two races and then finished fourth in the Prix du Jockey Club, so history can repeat itself sometimes. We will now give him a break and wait for September and the Prix Niel and then the Arc."
Feed The Flame has been shortened from 33/1 to a general 14/1 for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe over the same course and distance in October.
