Wednesday’s French banker is a horse that returns to Nantes to defend his crown in the Grand Prix Anjou Bretagne

Aigle Vaillant (Lubos Urbanek/Theo Bachelot)

- Defending champion of this race.

- Will have been trained with this race in mind.

- Handles conditions

- Good last-start effort

A five-time winner from 25 starts, Aigle Vaillant clearly knows where the winning line is, and he looks well-poised to strike once more on his return to Nantes.

He's yet to find the winners' circle since his victory in this race twelve months ago but he's done little wrong in defeat, finishing fourth behind the likes of Geography and Penalty in Dusseldorf before struggling in the Group 2 Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud in May.

Following three-months off, Lubos Urbanek's six-year-old returned to the track with an excellent second behind Geography again at Düsseldorf in the Group 3 Fritz Henkel-Preis and after another similar break, he should be cherry-ripe to head to Nantes.

Soft ground will not pose any issues for the son of shock Epsom Derby hero Wings Of Eagles, while his course form is another positive that must be taken into account.