Al Riffa is on course to return to France for his seasonal reappearance, with the Prix Ganay the starting point for a campaign Joseph O’Brien hopes will yield big-race success.

A Group One winner at two, the son of Wootton Bassett stamped himself among the top juveniles in Ireland when winning the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes in 2022.

Amongst the leading fancies for the following year’s Irish 2,000 Guineas, he missed the early part of the season and following a low-key comeback at the Curragh took on the might of Ace Impact in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville.

Although vanquished by Jean Claude-Rouget’s superstar – who would go on to retire unbeaten after victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – Al Riffa was beaten less than a length.

That was his final start as a three-year-old with a stone bruise ruling the colt out of the Irish Champion Stakes.

However, he has been kept in training and will head to ParisLongchamp for his return to action on April 28, with a Group One victory at four firmly in his sights.

“It was a really nice run at Deauville and the Irish Champion Stakes was going to be his next target but he missed that,” said O’Brien.

“We’re excited about his prospects this season and he’s on target for the Prix Ganay, that’s the plan.

“He’ll have a lot of entries, he’ll be entered in all of those top middle-distance races and we’ll take it race by race.

“We’re hoping he can be a horse that could maybe win a Group One for us this year.”

One-time Classic contender Passenger could make his return to action in France next month after being entered for the Prix Ganay at ParisLongchamp.

An impressive winner of the Wood Ditton on his racecourse debut at Newmarket last spring, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt subsequently finished a luckless third when favourite for the Dante at York, earning himself a place in the Derby.

Passenger was disappointing in Epsom’s premier Classic, but rounded off his three-year-old campaign with a narrow verdict in the Group Three Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor – beating subsequent Caulfield Cup runner-up West Wind Blows – and the son of Ulysses appears to be closing in on a comeback.

“Passenger’s in good form, we’re just coming out of the winter and Sir Michael has made an entry for him in the Ganay,” said Alan Cooper, racing manager for owners the Niarchos Family.

“There’s also the Gordon Richards Stakes (at Sandown), but we’ve got plenty of time to decide on the programme. We’re only at the end of March and like everyone we’d like a bit of warmth and a bit of dryness – it’s been so wet.

“His form is good, so let’s hope he progresses from his Group Three win and everyone can have some fun with him this year.”

Passenger is one of 19 initial entries for the Prix Ganay on April 28, with Charlie Appleby’s pair of Measured Time and Military Order, John and Thady Gosden’s Lord North and the William Haggas-trained Dubai Honour other potential British raiders.

Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg heads an Irish contingent that also includes Al Riffa and Maxux, both trained by his son Joseph, and Adrian Murray’s duo of Crypto Force and Elegant Man.