half miles at Epsom Racecourse on 4 July. The race was run on good ground in wet, overcast conditions and attracted a field of seventeen runners. Serpentine, ridden by Emmet McNamara, was one of the less fancied of the six horse entry from the O'Brien stable and went off at odds of 25/1 in a field which included: Kameko, English King (winner of the Lingfield Derby Trial), Mogul (Juvenile Stakes), Pyledriver (King Edward VII Stakes), Vatican City (2nd in Irish 2,000 Guineas), Russian Emperor (Hampton Court Stakes), Khalifa Sat (Cocked Hat Stakes), Max Vega (Zetland Stakes) and Mohican Heights (Stonehenge Stakes). Serpentine led from the start, opened up a decisive advantage, accelerated five furlongs out and entered the straight some twelve lengths clear of his rivals. Although his lead steadily diminished in the last quarter mile he never looked to be in any danger of defeat and won by five and a half lengths from Khalifa Sat with Amhran Na Bhfiann taking third place just ahead of Kameko and English King. McNamara, who had not ridden a winner in nine months, commented "I think I got a little bit of a freebie. All I could hear was the horse breathing. He was in a good rhythm, he was relaxed and I couldn't hear a thing around me... I'm not the lightest guy in the world, but thankfully, Aidan knows I'm riding out every day and I'm fit as a fiddle, so when a race like this pops up and he's got a few extra runners, he seems to give me a couple of spins". After a break of over two months Serpentine returned to the track for the 2400 metres Grand Prix de Paris which was run that year at Longchamp Racecourse on 13 September. Ridden by Christophe Soumillon he started second favourite but after being in contention from the start he was unable to make any significant progress in the closing stages and came home fourth behind his stablemate Mogul. The colt was scheduled to run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe over the same course and distance on 4 October but the O'Brien contingent was withdrawn en masse when four horses failed drug tests, with the results being attributed to a batch of contaminated feed. At Ascot Racecourse on 17 October Serpentine was ridden by William Buick when he was dropped back in trip and started an