BEHESHTAM (39) had a very wide draw and was about seventeen lengths off the scorching pace up front with half a mile to go. He gained over a dozen lengths from there and passed eleven horses to reach fourth place by the line.
Beheshtam is a strong, rangy, scopey sort that's built for a mile and a half plus but also has the kind of physique that can produce a decent turn of foot. He shows a little knee action. He is the first foal of Behkara who won a Group 2 over 1m 7f and finished second and third in the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak (French St Leger) over half a furlong longer.
On his first start Beheshtam ran in a strongly run maiden over 1m 5f on yielding ground at Maisons-Laffitte. Dropped out last, he closed up just after entering the straight but initially had his path blocked and had to take up. His jockey at first made a move to swing round the outside but then decided it would be okay to push his mount through what was a narrow gap. Beheshtam had to be ridden along to take the gap. But once he was through it he was clearly going way better than any of his rivals. He cruised clear with his jockey sitting near motionless and able to take a look back at his rivals as they slipped further behind.
Beheshtam passed the post moving very easily, clearly with a good deal in hand. Yet he clocked a time that was only a length or two per mile off Listed class.
On his only subsequent start, twelve days before the Prix du Jockey Club, Behetsham ran in a red hot Listed race at Longchamp that's produced a couple of Prix du Jockey Club winners, the Prix l'Avre. This time the distance was a mile and a half.
I thought Behetsham had his work cut out in the Prix l'Avre to beat Claremont, a horse that's either Group 1 class or very close to it on my speed ratings. But such was Behetsham's reputation after his impressive debut win he started odds on.
The early pace set by Claremont's pacemaker wasn't great. Certainly it was slow enough to make the final time a bit slower than it would have been off a stronger gallop. Logically this should have compromised Behetsham's chances as much as Claremont's (a horse that needs a strong pace as he lacks push-button acceleration). But Christophe Soumillon showed amazing confidence in his mount's ability to pick his rivals up in the sprint finish, only switching him out to the centre of the course to make his run one furlong from the finish. At that point Behetsham had three horses in front of him and over two lengths to make up. But he did it comfortably with an impressive surge of speed, winning by a short neck.
Officially the going was good to soft at Longchamp. Race times on the grande course on which the race was run indicate that's correct, but you can see from the video the rail on the home turn was pushed out markedly, so the slower times were simply due to the horses running about 30 yards longer than normal. This is confirmed by race times from the same day on the adjacent petite and moyenne courses, and by the fact that the runners weren't throwing up big divots like they would on yielding ground. The going was genuinely good in my opinion, as it was for the Prix du Jockey Club. So we now know that Behetsham can act on at least good going, though his trainer has still expressed concerns about running him on anything faster.
Beheshtam is a Group 1 horse on my ratings. And he did well here seeing that he had the triple whammy of faster ground, a cut back in trip and a wide draw to overcome.
Trainer Alain Royer-Dupre said afterwards "He ran very well. Let us not forget that this was not his true distance, which is around a mile and a half. He is a horse that's going to go well in the big races this Autumn. He will run in the Grand Prix de Paris if the Longchamp track is in good condition, which will probably not be the case. When it is too dry, it becomes dangerous. "
Beheshtam's jockey Christophe Soumillon, added: "I regret that the distance was shortened by a furlong and a half. At a mile and a half we would have won. He lacked experience and was beaten only by milers."
If he were mine I wouldn't think of risking Beheshtam on ground that may well be too fast for him in the Grand Prix de Paris. Seeing how soft the ground has been in Ireland the season I'd be strongly inclined to supplement him for the Irish Derby instead. Failing that I'd go down the traditional Prix Niel and Arc de Triomphe route and hope that the going turns up soft at Longchamp for Europe's biggest race.
