Aidan O'Brien will leave it to Ryan Moore to think on his feet in the early stages of the May 31 Prix du Jockey Club (G1) after red-hot favorite Constitution River was handed a nightmare draw in stall 15 of 16 for France's version of the Derby at Chantilly Racecourse.
Bookmakers reacted with varying degrees of caution, with Coral pushing out Constitution River from 6-4 to 13-8, while Paddy Power is dangling a bigger carrot by offering 2-1.
No winner of France's version of the Derby has overcome a double-figure draw since New Bay in 2015 and, speaking to a France Galop media call May 28, O'Brien acknowledged things had become more complicated for Moore, while also pointing out that an extra unknown factor was Constitution River's lack of experience going right-handed.
"I'm not sure if any other Jockey Club winners have come from being drawn that wide," O'Brien said. "It is what it is. If he was in a low draw, he could be locked in and obviously he's not going to be locked in now.
"It's his first race on a right-handed bend and he's drawn out, so it will be interesting. It's going to be a little bit more difficult tactically for Ryan so he's going to have to play it by ear.
"When those gates open, he's probably going to have to make a lot of quick decisions to see what he's going to do. It's not as straightforward as if he was drawn lower. We'll see what will happen."
The vibes from Ballydoyle all spring have been that Constitution River may have the most talent among the O'Brien-trained middle-distance colts and the trainer did nothing to dispel that impression, as well as highlighting what he considers to be the natural progression from the Dee Stakes to the French classic over a galloping 1 5/16 miles.
"We always thought the world of him and he won nicely in Chester," O'Brien said. "He always worked like a horse who had enough pace to run over a mile.
"He looked like he got the mile and a quarter in Chester but it's very flat and level, turning all the time. The Jockey Club would be another step forward and a little bit more demanding at a mile and a quarter."
Prix de Guiche (G3) winner Hawk Mountain and Christophe Soumillon also have work to do from stall 11, and the son of Wootton Bassett will trade up from cheekpieces to a set of baby blinkers Sunday after showing a few signs of immaturity in what was ultimately a comfortable trial win over 1 1/8 miles of the Jockey Club track.
Wayne Lordan and Montreal will break from stall 8 and O'Brien was happy to report the Prix de Suresnes runner-up has "made good progress" since being beaten a head by Dolmalan on his third career start.
The Karl Burke-trained Hankelow and Clifford Lee are housed in stall 1 as they bid to go two better than in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (G1) at ParisLongchamp this month.
After being supplemented May 27, the John and Thady Gosden-trained Oxagon has also been favored by the draw in post 3, while Dolmalan has done best of the two runners from the Aga Khan Studs in 6, with Daryzan in 10.
Among United Kingdom-based jockeys to receive the call-up for the £1.5 million classic, William Buick will break from stall 7 aboard the Andre Fabre-trained Komorebi after the pair finished second to Rayif in the Poulains.
Billy Loughnane has been booked to ride German hopeful Gostam for Andreas Wohler, and has been drawn in stall 5.
