Modern Games Looking for French Derby Success

2021 saw the Epsom Derby winner trained by British trainer Charlie Appelby. Could this year see him train the winner of the French Derby on June 5?

Also known as the Prix du Jockey Club, the race is contested by three-year-olds over a distance of a mile and a half. Appelby trains Modern Games who is currently at the top of the market with odds of 1/10.

Modern Games will be having his eighth race when taking part in the French Derby. He had a busy schedule as a two-year-old but didn't make a great start to his career. When finishing fifth and 11 lengths behind the winner at Nottingham, the future successes of this runner didn't look too likely.

Much better was to come though and Modern Games got off the mark in his next race. That delighted those who had backed him at odds of 1/10, the experts of major UK betting apps reported. Backers weren't so happy next time out when despite odds of 5/6, Modern Games could only finish second.

The Charlie Appelby runner was still only competing in lowly class 4 races. However, a step up to class 2 at Doncaster in September 2021 was met with success. That proved to be the first of four successive wins for this runner.

Just how good Modern Games could be was shown at Newmarket, 15 days after that Doncaster success. Victory came in the Group 2 Tattersalls Stakes, though it was not an expected success. French horse Trident was the 99/1 favorite with Modern Games at +300. The British horse made all to win the seven furlong race by two and a half lengths from Trident.

Modern Games had now arrived on the big stage and the next stop was the USA. He won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Stakes, finishing one and a half lengths ahead of Tiz the Bomb in a rather controversial race.

There was trouble in the stalls, and it looked as if Modern Games would be withdrawn. However, he took part in the race but with no betting odds. Those who wanted to back him were not at all amused when he won the race.

This year has seen Modern Games in action just once. That was at Longchamp in France on May 15 in the Group 1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains. Modern Games won his seasonal reappearance by one and a half lengths from Texas.

That success has put him at the top of the betting market for the French Derby. It's a race that Charlie Appelby has never won. It's going to be a tough race to win though with the current second favorite being Al Hakeem.

The recent Prix de Suresnes winner is available at 7/1 and is trained by Jean-Claude Rouget. He's trained four previous winners of this race so any horse he runs has to be feared. Rouget also runs Vadeni (8/1) who was a handy winner of the Group 3 Prix de Guiche at Chantilly earlier this month and could appreciate the mile and half distance of this race.

An interesting runner is Eydon, trained by Roger Varian. This contender finished fourth in the 2000 Guineas but had problems handling the dip in the Newmarket course. Perhaps Longchamp might suit this three-year-old better and is currently 7/1 to win this race. Modern Games is a worthy favorite to win this race and a return trip to the USA later in the year may well be planned.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)