There was yet another victory for France in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot as Big Rock delivered a devastating display on Qipco British Champions Day.

Often the bridesmaid when racing at the highest level this year, the son of Rock Of Gibraltar had finished second in the Prix du Jockey Club, Prix Jacques le Marois and Prix du Moulin in his last three starts.

However, Christopher Head’s brilliant colt finally got his moment in the spotlight, making every yard in the one-mile Group One feature.

Immediately taking his customary position at the head of proceedings, his rivals were left chasing shadows as big-race jockey Aurelien Lemaitre kept upping the tempo.

Having built up a healthy lead, it was Dermot Weld’s Tahiyra who decided to break cover from the pack first, with Chris Hayes setting the Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine in pursuit.

But there was no catching Big Rock (5-1) who kept on galloping in the rain-softened ground to register an emphatic six-length success and also lead home a French one-two, as Jerome Reynier’s Facteur Cheval stayed on past a tiring Tahiyra in the dying strides to grab the silver medal.

Short-priced favourite Paddington beat only two home, one of those being 2000 Guineas hero Chaldean.

Christopher Head will be looking to uphold national pride when the exciting Ramatuelle takes her chance in the Sumbe Prix Morny on Sunday.

The daughter of Justify has shown real star quality in her four outings so far and having won the Group Three Prix du Bois by an emphatic five lengths at Chantilly in June, returned to the track to add the Prix Robert Papin in style, winning by an eased-down four lengths.

Not afraid to take on the colts, the speedy youngster now faces off against some of the best juveniles in Europe as she bids to become just the second French-trained winner of the Deauville contest since 2011.

“We can’t wait to go to the Morny with her and it has been part of the plan since the beginning,” said her trainer.

“I think she’s the type of horse who can box with this calibre of horse at this time in the season.

“There is going to be two fillies, two French horses and lots of good opposition, but she’s doing fine and all the lights are green for the Morny.”

Head has established himself as a leading trainer thanks to the exploits of the popular dual-Classic winner Blue Rose Cen and now dreams of Ramatuelle also becoming a household name.

That task is made all the more possible by the fact she is co-owned by former NBA star Tony Parker, with Ramatuelle donning black and silver silks based on his former championship-winning team the San Antonio Spurs.

Head added: “It will be an honour to bring a new idol into racing and I feel lucky to have the confidence of owners who will send me these tremendous horses.”

Aidan O’Brien saddled Blackbeard to land this 12 months ago and this time relies on the unbeaten Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber, who crosses the Channel following an interrupted preparation that has left his trainer openly concerned about his chance.

“He’s good, I’m worried that he missed 10 days so he will run with a cloud over him,” said O’Brien.

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he did get tired. We are taking a chance on running him back because if he doesn’t run now he won’t be out until the autumn.

“He came sounder quicker than we thought he would, he did a piece of work and that’s why we let him take his chance, but there is a cloud over him. If he did run disappointing I wouldn’t be surprised.

“He was lame for seven days, he came back sound but he missed all the work.”

River Tiber is joined by fellow Irish raider and Norfolk Stakes hero Valiant Force, who bids to add to trainer Adrian Murray’s maiden Group One victory in last Saturday’s Phoenix Stakes.

“We’re very happy with him and we worked him at the Curragh last week alongside Bucanero Fuerte and he worked very well,” said the colt’s handler.

“He would prefer good ground. Bucanero would like to get his toe in, but Valiant Force would be a better horse on quick ground. You don’t know until you run them but we think that.

“He hit the line well over five at Ascot, which is a strong five, so he should be OK stepping up in trip.”

It has been a halcyon summer for Murray, who thanks to his link-up with owners Amo Racing has been to the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot and now has horses capable of competing at the highest level.

“To have two good horses like we have is a dream come true and something we never thought would happen,” he added.

“We’re lucky that we have Robson (Aguiar) who is a great man at sourcing these horses and has a great track record of buying horses which turn into nice horses, so a big part of the success is down to him.”

Ramatuelle is one of two French-trained runners in the line-up alongside Andre Fabre’s Sajir, who was no match for Karl Burke’s Elite Status in the Prix de Cabourg over track and trip last month, with that winner also now given a shot at the big time by the Spigot Lodge handler.

Burke said: “I’m very happy with him, he looks in great shape and will improve from his Group Three there a few weeks ago. But he will need to in what looks a very good renewal.”

Jasour impressed when winning the July Stakes at Newmarket and Clive Cox has always had one eye on this contest for his talented son of Havana Grey.

Such was Cox’s angst to head here in tip-top form, he swerved an engagement in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood on account of testing conditions, and now makes the trip to France in rude health.

“It’s a competitive heat as you would expect and I’m really happy with him, he’s in excellent form,” said Cox.

“Conditions were good for us earlier in the week and I know there’s a drop of rain about, but hopefully conditions will be OK.

“We were unhappy to run at Goodwood with a penalty in what was effectively heavy ground and with this race on the horizon it was a sensible manoeuvre not to run him there. I’m very happy he is in good form and we’re looking forward to seeing him run in a Group One.”

Cox tasted success in this race with Reckless Abandon in 2012, and having gone close with some of his stable stars since, is now hoping to add his name to the roll of honour once again.

“We’ve been placed in the race since winning it with Reckless Abandon. Nando Parrado and Golden Horde ran well in the race, as well as Tis Marvellous,” added Cox.

“I’m just thrilled I have a horse of this calibre to be running in the race again and of course it would mean the world to be getting involved in the finish, which we hope he will.”

It was Simon and Ed Crisford’s Vandeek who took advantage of Jasour’s absence to land a telling blow in the Richmond Stakes.

The unbeaten youngster is now two from two and having not put a foot wrong so far, has earned his shot at this high-class renewal of the six-furlong event.

“He has done nothing wrong and won his only two races so far,” said Chris Wall, racing manager for owners KHK Racing Ltd.

“Last time, he won the Richmond at Goodwood and this is a much tougher test with plenty of stakes form from Europe in it.

“We’re not kidding ourselves, we know we’re in at the deep end, but he’s done nothing but improve and physically he is getting stronger all the time.

“The ground at Goodwood last time was very soft and while he coped with that, I think he will be better on a sounder surface.

“The hope is he can be competitive and we will know where we stack up against the others – and if he runs his race, I would like to think he will be getting amongst them a bit anyway.

“He’s earned his place in Group One company by winning a Group Two and I think he’ll acquit himself well and not let the side down. I think he’s going to run a nice race.”

Christopher Head felt the tactical nature of the Qatar Nassau Stakes meant Goodwood racegoers did not get to see odds-on favourite Blue Rose Cen at her best.

Blue Rose Cen, who had won both the French 1000 Guineas and French Oaks, got little luck in running under Aurelien Lemaitre and she could finish only fourth behind surprise winner Al Husn.

Lemaitre ended up stuck behind Ryan Moore aboard the eventual runner-up Above The Curve and failed to quicken when the belated gap finally arrived.

Head said: “It was a good opportunity to challenge for a Group One, but things didn’t work out for her. I will have to speak to the owners and we will discuss a plan. It could include the Prix de l’Opéra.”

He went on: “It was a very tactical race so of course it was a possibility that kind of thing could happen. She ran a nice race, she did her race, and for sure would have been closer in a different position.

“I still think Blue Rose Cen ran a very nice race and she will get into the rest of the programme at the end of the season.

“It’s different here, so we need to respect and go into the racing with the fact that, even with a strong possibility of winning, there is still a possibility to fail.”

On Lemaitre having not ridden at Goodwood before, the Chantilly-based handler added: “The Yeguada Centurion team and Leopold (Fernandez Pujals, owner) are always interested in working with the young ones for the future, because it’s important for them to build a team that follows them and we are still working together. Of course, Aurelien was part of the team.

“We will have to discuss with Leopoldo and we will come back with a programme.

“I need to talk to see what the team want to do with her. This was a nice opportunity because we need to exist at that type of race. It hasn’t been won by France since the beginning, so it was still a challenge.”

Nashwa found a combination of soft ground and an extra two furlongs from the Falmouth Stakes, in which she was at her brilliant best, costing her dearly as she finished in third place.

Thady Gosden felt the ground blunted the class of Hollie Doyle’s mount.

He said: “She’s run a very good race, obviously. They went a slow pace and it’s very difficult to pick up in this ground.

“She travelled into the race well but you can’t quicken on ground like this and that’s sucked the class out of her.

“She ran on very well, but she’s a filly who won last over a mile and she showed a brilliant turn of foot there in ground that was soft, but obviously not as soft and easier to quicken through, whereas today she’s run a very good race but couldn’t quite show that brilliance we’ve seen before with her.

“It was a testing mile and a quarter but they didn’t go overly fast in front, and obviously the winner is a very good filly. Hollie gave her a great ride.”

Doyle also pointed to the extra two furlongs not playing to her strengths, with the winner franking the form of their previous clash in the Hoppings Stakes on the all-weather at Newcastle.

She said: “There was no pace early on, but she relaxed beautifully. They got racing early enough coming down the hill and I was just trying to sit and hold on to her as long as I could, and I went there with a double handful at the two-pole.

“A furlong and a half out I went to win my race, pushed the button and she quickened. I just think in the final furlong I lacked a bit of stamina. It’s happened a few times now, and even today I rode her the opposite way and it confirmed what we might have thought.

“Take nothing away from the winner, who is very good.”

French trainer Christopher Head is excited to see how the “filly of my life” Blue Rose Cen shapes up against Nashwa in a mouthwatering Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

Unbeaten in three starts this season, Blue Rose Cen landed the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) and then produced a powerful performance over an extended 10 furlongs, winning a deep Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly by four lengths.

Last year she won four of her six starts, culminating in another top-class success in the Prix Marcel Boussac, to be crowned the French champion two-year-old.

Her first crack at the older generation comes on her international debut. And Head is relishing the chance to visit a track where Solow landed the Sussex Stakes for his father, Freddy, in 2015.

“Everything is all right – all lights are green,” said Head.

“She has had a brilliant preparation and we are very happy with her, and we can’t wait to get to Goodwood races.

“She is a wonderful filly, the filly of my life for now, and I’m really happy to have the luck to train her.

“It has been a tremendous season with her and we can’t wait to see what she is capable of doing at the Goodwood track.”

Head is a fifth generation of his family to excel in the thoroughbred business. He is the son of Freddy, the multiple champion-jockey-turned-trainer, and grandson of Alec, something akin to French racing royalty.

While this will be Head’s first runner at the undulating circuit, he is no stranger to British racing and is keen to see how far the daughter of Churchill can climb.

“It has been a very nice run and I think it is a very tactical racetrack and a very interesting one,” he added.

“I can’t wait to get into it, because there is such a good atmosphere at the races in the UK and it is really a unique feeling when you run a horse there.”

The Chantilly-based handler has no qualms that Blue Rose Cen will handle the rain-soaked ground.

“The ground should not be any issue for her,” he said. “She has already encountered various tracks and there is no problem at any of them.”

Though he initially felt she was a 10-furlong filly on pedigree, he is exploring the possibility of seeing her race over further.

“We will need to see her run, but there is a project about seeing what she is capable of doing in a staying capacity, such as the Vermeille, just to see if she is capable of going further,” he added.

“We don’t have the limit of the filly now – she looks like she can do everything! For now, she has the benefit of choice.”

Five fillies stand in her way, including Roger Varian’s Al Husn, who won the Group Three Hoppings Fillies’ Stakes, at Newcastle, and Joseph O’Brien’s Above The Curve, who won the top-level Prix Saint-Alary last season.

Nashwa, though, would appear to be Blue Rose Cen’s biggest danger. The John and Thady Gosden-trained four-year-old won this race last year, having previously given Hollie Doyle her first Classic success in the Prix de Diane.

The daughter of Frankel, who is rated 2lb superior on official ratings, will be conceding 8lb to the French raider due to the weight-for-age structure.

She took her time to find her form this season, and was narrowly beaten by Al Husn at Newcastle, but was subsequently an eyecatching winner of the Group One Falmouth at Newmarket, where she powered to a five-length success back over a mile.

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Imad Al Sagar, who owns Nashwa, feels she is up to the task now she has found her form.

He said: “She’s in good form, actually. She came out of the Falmouth really well. I think it was so encouraging the way she did it at Newmarket.

“Everybody’s faith has been repaid, as it were. She looked good and had done well over the winter and, if anything, might have done a bit too well.

““She is a big, scopey filly and sometimes they just take a little while to come to themselves. It was never that she worked badly, she was always going nicely, but I think after Newcastle, it looked like she suddenly began to take hold of the bridle.

“She settled really well at Newmarket and showed a really good turn of foot, galloped out well and wasn’t stopping.”

Nashwa justified favouritism, beating Aristia by a length and three-quarters in the race 12 months ago, but Grimthorpe knows she faces a tough task against Blue Rose Cen.

He added: “We know she acts at Goodwood, anyway. It is a very interesting race and the French filly looks exceptional. It is going to be a good race.

“We are always hopeful, but the good thing is she is going into the race how we’d want her to.”

Blue Rose Cen is set to make her British bow in the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on August 3.

Christopher Head’s French star completed a rare treble at Chantilly when strolling to victory in the Prix de Diane earlier this month, adding to victories in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and last year’s Marcel Boussac – a feat previously achieved by the likes of Zarkava, Divine Proportions and Allez France.

Blue Rose Cen, who has won seven of her nine outings, was stepping up to an extended 10 furlongs for the first time at Chantilly and Head is eager to stick at that trip as the Churchill filly takes on older rivals for the first on the Sussex Downs.

He told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “The main idea is to still keep up with the challenges. The owner has always been bold and daring in racing challenges and we have been talking about the next stage for Blue Rose Cen and he wants to go to the Nassau to do the same as Nashwa did with the Prix de Diane and Nassau double and we really have great faith in her with that programme.

“I don’t think we have got to the limit of that filly yet. I still want to encounter the older fillies without getting into a new distance, so we’ll keep with the distance we know she is best at right now and try to encounter a new panel of fillies to be able to know if she is capable of getting into the Vermeille and then we will pretty much know if she is an Arc or an Opera (horse).

“Even if she is not in the race, it is a possibility she can still be supplemented into the Arc. Leopoldo Fernández Pujals of Yeguada Centurion is a really a bold and daring individual, embracing challenges, so we’re trying to do our best to get the horses to those kind of challenges, and that’s why we’re happy to go to the Nassau.”

Head also trains Big Rock for the same owner, but he failed in his Classic mission when beaten three and a half lengths by Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club.

That was his first attempt over further than nine furlongs and Head feels his future now lies over a mile.

He added: “He’s pretty much a mile horse or a 1800-metre horse and we learned that in the Jockey Club. We will put him onto another path which is the Jacques Le Marois and probably the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes too.”