It was a battle of the O'Brien family on Saturday at Saint-Cloud between Proud And Regal for Donnacha O'Brien and Espionage for his father Aidan. It was a thrilling head bobbing finish where the former narrowly won the G1 Critérium International (1600m).

The seven runners broke evenly from the starting stalls where winning jockey Gavin Ryan had to push away onboard Proud And Regal for a few strides to get the son of Galileo into a good rhythm and to a prominent early position sharing the advantage with Espionage down the back straight.

The pace looked average as the field travelled along the far side where seven lengths covered the group with one of the strongly supported market leaders, Kubrick settled at the back, last of the seven. As they passed the halfway marker, all runners continued to race slightly off the inside running rail. International challengers appeared to be dominating up front and each of the seven competitors continued to travel well turning for home.

Martin Seidl riding Romina Power was the first to angle toward the grandstand rail but then steered the two-year-old back in with the other runners. Just after, Gavin Ryan seized the opportunity and placed Proud And Regal up against the rail going powerfully. Similar comments applied to Kubrick nearest to the centre of the track who came with a good-looking charge as well as Espionage and Salt Bay. Breizh Sky needed some luck, but he couldn't find an extra gear to go with the front three. The three international runners went clear inside the final 200m with Espionage leading. 

However, Gavin Ryan got a great tune out of Proud And Regal who railed well and with 50m to go, was still a neck down but the son of Galileo pulled out everything to sneak up and pass Espionage right on the winning line in a head bobbing finish to record a head success in the G1 Critérium International (1600m) for Donnacha O'Brien who beat his father's representative, Espionage into second and UK trainer, Ralph Beckett had the third with Salt Bay, given a rare French ride for Hector Crouch.

Proud And Regal has now recorded three wins and two placings from five career starts that commenced when winning on debut a 1400m maiden at The Curragh (Ireland) in June before finding success again in the G3 Japan Racing Association Tyros Stakes (1400m) at Leopardstown (Ireland). The colt then produced two strong placings against G2 company and a runner-up effort contesting The G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes (1400m) before bouncing back to winning ways on Saturday at Saint-Cloud. Next up the 1600m Spring Classics will be the likely target for this highly promising performer.

This was Galileo's 97th individual Group 1 winner and shows the stallion is still producing top-class prospects on the track in his last few crops.