Our French expert Graeme North profiles Midak, one of two colts from across the Channel supplemented into the Betfred Derby.

The Aga Khan Studs might well have the best middle-distance colt in France in the form of Azimpour (116p), who would have gone very close to winning the French Derby had he not got so far back from a draw in the Chantilly car park, but they have one almost equally as good on Timeform ratings in the shape of his stable-companion Midak, who is rated 114p after winning all of his three races and who threatens to make even more progress now he’s set to tackle a mile-and-a-half for the first time after being supplemented for the Betfred Derby.

It’s not uncommon for a Classic winner to make their debut these days on the all-weather but not at Lyon La Soie, a tight right-handed polytrack circuit with a short 375 metre straight.

Drawn widest of all and ridden by the stable apprentice, Midak didn’t even start favourite for that race but ended up winning comfortably by three lengths and could have won by six or seven had his rider not taken things easily. On the back of that run, Midak disputed favouritism for a conditions race on the turf at Chantilly restricted to those who hadn’t won a Class 2 or finished placed in a Listed race.

Inexperience looked as if it might cost him rounding the final bend, where he gave his rider Mickael Barzalona a scare, jinking off the rail, but he looked more professional in the straight and was ultimately well on top, winning by a length and a quarter.

The race to best judge Midak on, however, is the Group 3 Prix Greffulhe, a traditional Derby trial (at least for the French version) run over an extended mile and a quarter and which was won in 2022 by Onesto whose subsequent exploits saw him winning the Grand Prix de Paris and finishing third in the Arc.

A straight rating comparison between the two suggests Midak has already achieved 5lb more than Onesto had exiting the Greffulhe, making the running again as he had at Chantilly and like then finding plenty in the straight, albeit helped to some degree by his main rival Uther, who had won the Group 3 Prix Noailles on his previous start, failing to handle the track and never landing a blow. Ten lengths behind Midak in fourth was Piquoiseau, seven lengths further behind than he had been at Chantilly.

Home breds from the Aga Khan studs are rarely short on stamina and Midak is out of the Sinndar mare Minya who hasn’t made much impact at stud admittedly, with her only winner coming over just short of two miles over hurdles at Toulouse, but was useful on the Flat herself winning at up to an extended 14 furlongs.

A good mover and physically imposing sort, he’s got another 10lb or so to find to win a typical Derby, but his form has improved in leaps and bounds so far and after looking to have grown up at Saint-Cloud, he’s well worth his place in what looks an open year.

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