Channon laughing out loud at Buick’s French win

It comes after Laugh Out Loud, a recent York winner, made every yard of the running to collect top honours in the Prix De Sandringham at Chantilly yesterday, one of the main support races to the French Derby.

Channon, the former footballer-turned-trainer, enjoyed his first taste of Classic glory when Samitar landed last Sunday’s Irish 1,000 Guineas and this victory continued his rich vein of form as he prepares to start training the NH horses of the recently-retired Henrietta Knight.

Buick – exasperated when The Fugue was denied a winning run in the Epsom Oaks by interference that nearly took the Musidora Stakes winner off her feet – was happy to let Laugh Out Loud bowl along at the head of affairs in this Group Two contest.

Mashoora loomed up as a big danger under Christophe Soumillon with a couple of furlongs to run, but Laugh Out Loud refused to relinquish her advantage and ran out a comfortable winner.

Buick completed a double with a canny ride on the four-year-old stayer Aiken for his No 1 trainer, John Gosden, in the prestigious Grand Prix De Chantilly.

Buick dictated affairs from the start and though Maxios looked like going past George Strawbridge’s four-year-old inside the final furlong, Aiken found more to pull away again in the closing stages.

Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden stayed on to snatch third place without ever threatening the first two.

The jockey was out of luck in the French Derby; Gosden’s Gregorian was well beaten while Aidan and Joseph O’Brien were unable to complete a Derby double after Imperial Monarch suffered interference in a race won by Saonois, trained by J-P Gauvin and ridden by Antoine Hamelin.

Meanwhile, O’Brien has indicated that Breeders’ Cup winner St Nicholas Abbey – victorious in Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup at Epsom – has a series of ambitious targets in mind.

“The Prince of Wales’s (at Royal Ascot) is an option along with the King George and the Arc, all those races, but the lads will decide,” said the trainer.

Edward Lynam is hoping Royal Ascot will finally see Sole Power in his true colours when he lines up for the King’s Stand Stakes later this month.

Lynam believes Sole Power, who sprang a 100-1 shock in York’s Nunthorpe Stakes in 2010, is a more consistent horse these days and is expecting a big run on June 19.

Luca Cumani won the tyregiant.com Zetland Gold Cup at Redcar two years ago and is poised to repeat the trick with Danadana this time. Forte Dei Marmei claimed the 10-furlong prize for the Newmarket handler in 2010 and Danadana looks to be a similar type of runner.

The last two races at Catterick on Saturday had to be abandoned on safety grounds because of slippery conditions at the North Yorkshire track.