French Aces Head Deauville Feature

Whipper and Valixir, second and third respectively behind Dubawi in the Prix Jacques le Marois, will again lock horns in the Group One Netjets Prix du Moulin at Longchamp on Sunday.

The pair go head-to-head in the mile race for which a total of nine have been declared, including Luca Cumani´s Starcraft and Jeremy Noseda´s Majors Cast.

Bookmakers Paddy Power are siding with Valixir to reverse recent form and emerge victorious after the pair were separated by just half a length in Deauville, with the Irish firm making Andre Fabre´s charge their 9-4 favourite.

Whipper is next best on 100-30 and trainer Robert Collet believes the four-year-old is in better form than when finishing fifth in the Moulin 12 months ago.

'I feel he is in better shape than he was last year and has come out of the Marois well,' said Collet. 'If he keeps to that form then I see no reason why he shouldn´t win.'

Victory for Valixir would give him his third Group One of the year and add to his win in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot at York.

Fabre will also saddle the consistent Cacique - who was last seen three months ago winning the Group Three Prix Chemin Fer du Nord at Chantilly - in addition to Archange D´Or, the winner of four of his six starts.

Starcraft will be ridden for the first time by Christophe Lemaire having been given time off due to a pelvic stress fracture following his sixth in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes.

Majors Cast, meanwhile, will be out to avenge his defeat in last weekend´s Celebration Mile when losing out to Chic in a photo-finish, having been an unlucky-in-running in second in the Hungerford.

(C) PA Sport