Multiple Group One winner Luxembourg starts his season in the Howden Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh on Saturday, with trainer Aidan O’Brien expecting him to return better than ever this year.
The five-year-old was last seen finishing a close second to Romantic Warrior in the Hong Kong Cup, prior to which he was runner-up in both the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
His season did include a win, however, and a significant one at that, as he landed the Tattersalls Gold Cup at elite level at the Curragh in May.
There had been discussions about starting his campaign in the Saudi Cup itself and experimenting with running the son of Camelot on dirt for the first time, but it was ultimately decided that he would stick to turf for now.
“We’re looking forward to it, we were surprised at the way he got over the (dirt) track,” said O’Brien.
“Everyone’s very excited to see him. He’s a big, powerful, long-striding horse. A good, scopey horse, with a good mind and very sound.
“We think we haven’t seen the best of him yet, all through this year and next year he’s going to be a horse to really look forward to.
“He’s big with a long stride and often those types of horses take until four or five to really become strong enough to use their stride.
“He had a lean enough body, but his body is getting stronger all the time.”
“We were in two minds about it, the Saudi Cup is probably the most exciting race in the world. We were going to go there and take our chance, but then last minute we thought it was the wrong thing for the horse this early in the season.
“It’s the race everyone wants to win and we nearly did it, maybe we thought it might be safer to do it the other way and maybe we could go there with him next year.
“We will experiment, maybe we should have done it this time but we definitely will, he could go to Dubai and it’s very possible he’ll go there on the grass as well.
“Then we might think about switching over for the second half of the year, something like that.”
Also in the race are Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King and Andrew Balding’s The Foxes, with John and Thady Gosden running Jack Darcy and Richard Fahey represented by Bahrain International Trophy winner Spirit Dancer.
O’Brien has a further hope at the meeting in Tower Of London, who lines up in the Red Sea Turf Handicap over a mile and seven furlongs.
The four-year-old was twice a winner last term and was unlucky to miss out on a Group Three success when going down by just a head in the Bahrain Trophy Stakes at Newmarket.
His three-year-old season ended in September, so he returns from a significant break, but his trainer has been pleased with his preparation for the race and expects him to perform well.
“He’s been off a good while and he’s carrying a little bit of weight, but he’s been working very well,” O’Brien said.
“We always thought the trip would suit him well and this type of race would suit him well.
“He has plenty of weight but he’s a classy horse, we think that ridden a little bit patiently and gently we will see a very big run from him.”
Belgium 3-0 Luxembourg: Lukaku at the double as Red Devils warm up for Euro 2024
Belgium made light work of minnows Luxembourg as Domenico Tedesco's side rounded off their Euro 2024 preparations with a 3-0 victory.
Romelu Lukaku was at the double at Stade Roi Baudouin, with Leandro Trossard also getting in on the act for the Red Devils.
Belgium dominated from the off, though Luxembourg held out until Lukaku converted from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute.
Lukaku made it 2-0 shortly after the restart, with the 31-year-old on hand to finish after fine work from Jeremy Doku.
Trossard added further gloss nine minutes from time, and Belgium will now turn their attention to Euro 2024.
They face Slovakia in their opening group match on June 17, with fixtures against Romania and Ukraine to follow.
Data Debrief: Total control
It really could have been much worse for Luxembourg, given Belgium accumulated 4.81 expected goals from 27 attempts.
In return, Luxembourg mustered just 0.01 xG (essentially, having just one per cent of scoring all match), managing only one shot.
Mbappe hailed as 'fantastic leader' after dominating on France return
Kylian Mbappe put the furore over his move to Real Madrid to one side as France's "fantastic leader" dominated in Wednesday's 3-0 friendly victory over Luxembourg.
Didier Deschamps lauded the leadership qualities of star striker Mbappe, who celebrated confirmation of his switch to the Spanish capital with a goal and two assists at Stade Saint-Symphorien in Metz.
Mbappe dazzled down the left flank to find space and tee up Randal Kolo Muani's first-half opener before paving the way for Jonathan Clauss' finish after the break.
The France forward was not done there, however, rounding off a fine individual performance with a late goal after an assist from former Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Bradley Barcola.
Just 12 days before Les Bleus' Euro 2024 opener against Austria, France head coach Deschamps was delighted with Mbappe's resounding international return.
Deschamps told French channel TF1: "He's a fantastic leader. His head and body weren't used to playing so little. He lacked a bit of juice.
"But he got it in his head that he was going to do everything to make up for his PSG frustration. It was a good example during the week."
France have a final warm-up friendly to come against Canada on Sunday before heading to the Euros, with Netherlands and Poland also in their challenging group.
Deschamps says this dominance over Luxembourg was a positive sign, though there remains room for improvement.
"It's a good rehearsal for the work we've done," he added.
"We're not going to get excited but there are some interesting things. I'm going to correct some positioning.
"But in the offensive animation, we had a lot of variety."
Olivier Giroud also became France's oldest player in history in the victory, coming on as a second-half substitute aged 37 years and 249 days.
France 3-0 Luxembourg: Mbappe plays part in all three goals in routine win
Kylian Mbappe assisted two goals and scored the other as France eased to a 3-0 victory over Luxembourg in Wednesday's international friendly at Stade Saint-Symphorien in Metz.
In a game in which Olivier Giroud came on to become Les Blues' oldest-ever player aged 37 years and 249 days, new Real Madrid superstar Mbappe stole the show as France kicked off their preparations for Euro 2024 in a serene manner.
The former Paris Saint-Germain forward crossed for Randal Kolo Muani to head home the opener two minutes before half-time after a jinking run down the left, before fizzing in a delivery for Jonathan Clauss to settle himself and flash home a second in the 70th minute.
Mbappe was not finished there as he was teed up by former club-mate Bradley Barcola to slide in the third of the game for France, who did have one moment of concern as Dayot Upamecano departed with a knock.
Data Debrief: Mbappe overtakes two fellow greats
Mbappe has now assisted 28 goals for France, which is two more than Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry. Indeed, over the past 50 years, only Antoine Griezmann (30) has provided more.
While the victory was straightforward enough for Didier Deschamps' men, who face Canada in their final pre-Euro 2024 friendly, their expected goals return (xG) of 1.46 - compared to 0.13 for Luxembourg - was lower than many would have anticipated.
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