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The first French two year old race of the 2021 season will take place tomorrow at Lyon-Parilly.
During lockdown last year I studied these races quite closely and managed to turn a small profit over the course of the season despite making lots of silly mistakes along the way.
As the season progresses I’ll update this thread with selections and eye-catchers etc and hopefully again get myself in the black. (I’m hoping committing my thoughts in black and white will help eliminate the errors)
Unsurprisingly there is no selection in tomorrow’s race which is largely being contested by stables not regularly amongst the two year old winners. Cedric Boutin saddles three runners yet was 0-33 with his juveniles last season whilst Marc Pimbonnet did manage to saddle a winner. Sadly for him it was subsequent Prix Marcel Boussac hero Tiger Tanaka in a claimer on debut and that was the last he saw of him!
Jane Soubagne had her string well forward for the start of the 2020 campaign (which admittedly didn’t start until May) with her first ten runners yielding three wins and three places so I would expect Maroon Six to be well tuned up for this and the presence of Pierre-Charles Boudot on Best Sixteen suggests a big run is expected from him although all four of his juvenile rides for Yann Barberot last year were beaten. Likewise Christian Demuro is an interesting booking for Anterselva, a half-sister to last year’s winning two year old Sand Girl (wouldn’t have had the pace to win over this trip though) and the borderline group class Shinning Ocean (never raced at less than 1600m).
The next race is at La Teste De Buch on Wednesday 24th.
Hopefully not a sign of things to come with the opening two-year-old contest being won by unconsidered 16/1 shot (33/1 on the PMU) Jose Josephine just getting the better of Maroon Six in a tight finish.
The good showing of the runner up reinforces my belief that Jane Soubagne will have her string well forward in this early part of the season and she has two entries in both the maiden at La Teste on Wednesday and the quite valuable claimer at St Cloud on Thursday.
Best Sixteen was sent off a rather miserly 11/8 favourite and on the face of it, was a little disappointing. However I think he was disadvantaged being drawn 11 out 11 and having to race alone in the centre of the course (The winner and runner up were drawn in stalls 1 and 2 respectively). He was also inclined to hang left from halfway when asked to pick up the pace by Pierre-Charles Boudot. Despite this, he was going on nicely at the finish under hands and heels (the front two had much harder races) and I suspect connections will be keen for him to make amends in a similar contest sooner rather than later. He is the first “notebook” entry of the season.
Of the rest Hurly Cane made up a lot of late ground having been outpaced early on but I think her staying on was exaggerated by the pacesetters being eased off in front once beaten so I won’t be adding her to the notebook just yet.
Welcome to TRF Salut, and hope you pull out a few winners, looks like it could be a decent thread.
Thanks VTC. I’m not expecting many bets this early in the season but it helps my thought process to put things down in black and white
Second race of the French two-year-old season run today at La Teste Buch situated in the South West of France not far from Bordeaux.
This race was, as you might expect, a run of the mill maiden run over 1000m and, like the opening event at Lyon-Parilly on Saturday, featured a short priced favourite that failed to deliver. Sent off at 13/8, Speed Chop was a little green but held every chance over 200m out before finding no extra and weakening to finish fifth.
The winner Ma Noire made all the running and despite looking to hang right throughout the last 400m still had enough in reserve to win unchallenged. Her trainer, Bruno Montzey, had his first winner of any kind this calendar year at the weekend so looks to be running into form. He saddles Sam Blaster (was also entered in this race) in the £12k claimer at St Cloud tomorrow so it will be worth keeping an eye on how he goes there.
It’s easy to get carried away with promising performances from beaten horses at this time of year and I will be trying to resist that temptation but two of the also rans here are worthy of note. The first of these is Easy Skanking (which wasn’t the easiest name for the French on course commentator to get to grips with). This filly is trained by Maurizio Guarnieri who handled the smart Plainchant last year (now joined John Gosden apparently) and whilst I’m not suggesting she is anywhere near as good as her she showed enough here to suggest a similar race will be no problem. Sent off at 7/2 second favourite the daughter of promising sire Shalaa showed good speed to dispute the lead for the first 200m before dropping into a tracking position. She was still going OK, although just starting to be pushed along, when losing momentum due to the favourite taking her ground on the rail (rider given a one day ban for this misdemeanour).Maxime Guyon very quickly accepted the situation and eased her right down in the last 400m. Expect her to make amends for this shortly.
The second runner of note was Detesnouvelles who showed good speed for the first 600m but then ran green when asked to quicken up and could only find one pace in the closing stages under a sympathetic ride from Ioritz Mendizabal. She will learn a lot from this.
France Galop produce sectional timings for some of the bigger tracks. I’m not so sure how useful they are in the context of French races where they seemingly never go an even gallop but this is the full report from today’s race: Tracking report for 2yo maiden at La Teste
No notebook entries after the third race of the season although the winner, Vanille Bleue, was undoubtedly impressive, quickening away in good style having raced prominently throughout, and scoring by three and a half lengths despite being eased close home.
Although this race was a claimer the winner’s prize of €12k compares favourably with the €9k to the winner of both maidens run so far and with claiming prices ranging from €20k to €36 this race was probably at least as good as those contests, however the run of second placed Feli Chop making a quick reappearance having been well beaten at Lyon-Parilly casts some doubts on that.
The winner, was in at the €20k mark which allowed her to receive a nice chunk of weight off most of her rivals, was subsequently claimed by Mbaye Niang for €46k so he was obviously impressed by what he saw. I think she may be hard to place going forward and I tend not to follow these first time out winners for that reason but am happy to be proved wrong.
This was Jane Soubagne’s first winner of the season. I suggested in a previous post that her string would be well forward and her four two year olds to run so far have finished 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 3rd so she remains a handler to keep a close eye on in these opening skirmishes.
The next contest is not until Thursday 1st April when Chantilly hosts the imaginatively entitled “Prix Du Debut” for unraced juveniles. Familiar names amongst the trainers represented are Gavin Hernon and Eoghan O’Neill whilst Madame Soubagne has entered Massa Chop, a Captain Chop half-brother to seven winners of thirty five races of varying qualities.
À bientôt!
The Prix De Debut at Chantilly was restricted to newcomers “Inédits” in the local parlance and the race itself was dominated by those racing up with the pace. The winner Diablotine was smartly in to her stride and although swerving left at the 200m pole when given a reminder by Aude Duporte, she soon recovered and stretched away for an emphatic five length success.
Seemingly unfancied at 14/1 and hailing from a yard that didn’t have a juvenile winner last season she clearly has plenty of pace and could win again in this early part of the season, assuming that the third countrywide lockdown announced yesterday by President Macron doesn’t disrupt the fixture list.
The beaten favourite, Massa Chop, trained by in-form Jane Soubagné was a bit restless in the stalls (waiting for Spellchope to load) and slightly missed the break. Never travelling well and looking a little awkward in first time cheekpieces, better was clearly expected but I won’t be in a hurry to back him next time on this showing.
One of the other market principals that I am more inclined to give another chance to is Glen Carlos. The booking of Pierre-Charles Boudot for Eoghan O’Neill’s colt suggested a big run was expected as did the 7/2 SP. At halfway his backers might have thought they were going to collect as he travelled strongly in the front rank. However when push came to shove he was very green, drifting into the centre of the course and Boudot, quickly realising that his mount did not have the experience to muster any sort of challenge, allowed him to come home in his own time. This kindness should be repaid in due course. The sectional timings report show that this son of Goken ran the fastest 200m segment of the race of any of the field with his 10.89 effort between the 800m and 600m points.
Sectional timing report can be seen here:Prix du Debut sectional report
Two more juvenile races over the bank holiday weekend.
On Saturday the first race to include a bend and the first race over more than 1000m. Due to a stalls malfunction this race went off a few minutes late which caused France Galop to miss the first 100m or so which was annoying as two of the runners were already some way behind at this stage. Unfortunately there is no sectional timings report for this race either so it’s hard to tell if the pace slowed down for the 200-400m segment. This certainly appeared to be the case as the two detached runners had comfortably latched on to the rear of the main group by that stage.
One of these early stragglers was Joli Coup. Having made up the lost ground he ran very green all the way up the straight but was still able to stay on well enough to take second, albeit having no chance with the winner. This was an undoubtedly eye-catching performance but a bit too obvious for me. He may well win next time but is likely to be over-bet and not represent any value. It’s also worth nothing that he has already been gelded so may not be entirely straightforward.
I also won’t be backing the winner, Miss Cleopatra, next time out either as although the manner of her 2.5 length victory was quite taking, with a nice surge of acceleration to put the race to bed at the 200m pole, once the fillies allowance and her rider’s claim are taken into account she isn’t rated any more highly than the second or third, who were both trying to concede 5kg to the winner, a tough enough task at any time let alone on your racecourse debut.
A word about the disappointing favourite, Prettycharly. She showed good speed to halfway but dropped out very quickly once pushed along. She pulled hard here and also ran very freely on the way to post so possibly lost her race before it had even started. She clearly has some pace and might win a similar event if learning to settle.
And so on to Marseille-Borely on Easter Monday, a 950m maiden for unraced juveniles run on unusually fast ground by French standards “3.0” on the penetrometer and officially described as good (of the 400 or so two year old races run on turf in 2020, only 16 were run on ground this fast or faster).
Only six went to post, possibly put off by the ground conditions and in this sixth race of the season we finally had a colt win and a favourite win.
Lesslepasser, sent off at even money on the PMU (6/4 UK industry SP), disputed the lead throughout with Uncle Bo (weak in the market but ran a sound race) until mastering that rival with over 300m to run, and then just having to be nudged out to hold the late challenge of Gorl Pit. I thought he had a little bit in hand here and he is clearly well regarded although shortly after the winning post he jinked right and unshipped Gregory Benoist. I assume he was soon caught and didn’t sustain any injury as a result of this.
The one I am interested in from this race is the third Secret Feeling. Jessica Marcialis had problems getting this daughter of Recorder to settle and although tracking the leaders, she was still inclined to pull too hard. She then hit a slight flat spot when the winner quickened and was twice intimidated by Gorl Pit lugging into her under pressure. Despite these difficulties she finished on the bridle and only beaten a length and a half. Charley Rossi rarely has first time out winners and Secret Feeling was the outsider of the party here at 12/1. I expect her to improve on this and pick up a similar sprint maiden in the next couple of runs.
Next up is a claimer at Fontainebleu on Friday where five of the fourteen entries have run previously.
Race number 7 although just a claimer looked interesting on paper as 9 of the 12 runners had the benefit of a previous run, 6 of them having contested the 900m claimer at St Cloud fifteen days ago.
That race was run on much softer ground “Collant” (4.4 on the stick) in contrast to the official going of “Bon” (3.2) here at Fontainebleau.
As might be expected in a 1000m race on fast ground, racing prominently was a big advantage with the first four home occupying variations on those places for the whole race and nothing else ever really getting involved.
Lagoone Chope was the beaten favourite in that St Cloud race. Like her winning stablemate, Vanilla Bleue, she was claimed by Frederick Rossi. Equipped with blinkers for this re-appearance she was again sent off as favourite. Her backers collected this time with the only slightly anxious moment being when Maxime Guyon asked her to take it up just outside the 200m mark and she wandered left and right before getting the message. Taking no chances, Guyon drove her right out and she was well on top by the finish.
Jazzy Wood, fifth at St Cloud, got a bit closer to the winner here and showed good pace against the rail, he may find a similar race but is clearly no world beater. Blue Dream, fourth at St Cloud and supported in the market to turn the tables on Lagoone Chope on 1.5kg better terms wasn’t able to do so and was slightly disappointing, becoming a little unbalanced over 300m out and never launching a challenge. Both his runs to date have suggested to me that he has ability but not the pace to win over this trip. Connections submitted a “friendly claim” for 40k euros so they are clearly keen to keep him for another day.
The three newcomers were all sent off at double figure prices and only La Mathilde showed a glimmer of promise and nowhere near enough to suggest she will be winning imminently.
Beauty Fatale did best of the three runners representing the Lyon-Parilly maiden that opened the season and seemed sharpened up by the first-time cheek-pieces. Again she may find a small race but isn’t one to go overboard on.
Sone of the also rans have now been beaten twice in this grade and look very moderate performers, certainly over these short distances.
The next races are on Tuesday, a race for newcomers at Chantilly, and a maiden at the lesser known venue of Tarbes in South-West France where the previously noted Detesnouvelles is amongst the entries.
The notebook got off to a good start to the season with the previously flagged Detesnouvelles getting on top close home to take the maiden at Tarbes. She clearly benefitted from her debut run and the additional 100m on softer ground helped too as did the sensible ride from Ioritz Mendizabal. She still looked rather green to me and there should be more to come from her.
Maroon Six had run well when second on his debut at Lyon-Parilly and was sent off a shade of odds-on to go one better here. He again showed plenty of pace and did nothing wrong, just yielding close home. He is likely to find a similar race soon but has had two pretty hard races and will always be vulnerable to something improving past him.
Speed Chop had a nice pull in the weights with the winner, thanks to his rider’s claim, compared to their debuts but could only reduce the 2 length margin that day by half a length today. I think he was less suited by the step up in trip than the winner and perhaps he should step back down to 1000m as he has raced quite freely on both starts.
No doubt about the eyecatcher in this race however. The unfancied (20/1 chance) stablemate of the winner Feelin Lucky was immediately anchored in a detached last by her inexperienced rider Annellle Mekouche. Without being asked for any effort at all this daughter of Olympic Glory stayed on very strongly in the straight to pick up third close home and only be beaten just over 1 length. It’s worth noting that she got all the allowances here being a debutante (2kg) , claimer ridden (3.5kg), filly (1.5kg) so raced off only 51kg but even so this was a very obviously promising performance (almost too obvious in some respects).
Over at Chantilly, their juvenile maiden was restricted to newcomers so no form lines to go on and quite hard work for these inexperienced horses on the big wide straight course.
The pitfalls of betting in such races were nicely illustrated by the SPs of the first three home 33/1, 12/1 & 20/1 although Theresa Marnane won’t be complaining as she owns the winner and runner-up. Last year her horses were trained by Andrew Hollinshead and they tended to be campaigned aggressively, running frequently and often inconsistently, which is maybe to be expected from horses at the lower ability level. For that reason I won’t be interested in backing either of those two again.
Two I will be following, at least in the short term, were the fourth and fifth. Fourth was Ed Montfort’s Dream Love. Well fancied at 3/1 he showed good speed and looked to be going best over 400m out but when Theo Bachelot gave him one reminder he just held fire slightly and couldn’t go with the Marnane pair as Bachelot quickly accepted his fate and let him complete with another day in mind.
It was a similar story with the fifth Printemps. She was sent off at 7/2 and took quite a grip for the first half of the race on the heels of the leaders. Also asked for her effort at the 400m pole she briefly held every chance before inexperience got the better of her and she couldn’t go with the front three. This daughter of Shamardal was home bred by Sheikh Obaid and he will be very keen to see her register a win.
The next race in on Thursday at Lyon-Parilly where the previously noted Best Sixteen looks to improve upon his debut run at the same track.
Ten races in to the French juvenile season now and incredibly nine of them have been won by fillies despite there having been a roughly equal number of colts/fillies running.
The latest of these female winners was Anterselva who comprehensively overturned her debut form with favourite Bext Sixteen on the same terms. She was ridden differently this time, dropped out in rear, before coming with a sweeping run down the centre to settle the outcome in a matter of strides for an impressive success.
Having backed Best Sixteen I was initially rather disappointed with his run but in retrospect he did beat the remainder comfortably enough and again wasn’t given a hard time once the winner had flown. He is worth one more chance in similar company.
Nouvelle Belle, representing the connections that had the first two at Chantilly earlier in the week clearly has ability and knew her job. Sent off 7/2 second favourite she was quickly away and despite running a little green at halfway and being strongly pressed she only weakened in the last 100m. It’s worth noting that she had quite a hard race hare and was getting weight from both the front two so I won’t be in a hurry to back her next time.
It’s not easy to find encouraging words for the rest of the field and they are going to need a drop to claiming company and/or longer trips if they are to win a race.
Talking of claimers there is such a race at La Teste Buch this evening (5.15 pm UK time). This looks a very moderate affair and doesn’t feature any of our previously noted runners but I will post a review of it in due course.
Two more French juvenile races since my last post and to be honest not much to report from either of them.
Friday’s claimer at La Teste Buch was the worst race of the season so far with all the field in to be claimed for between 10000 and 14000 euros. Sam Blaster got the better of a protracted battle with favourite Jazzy Wood after the latter had looked to be going best over 300m out and these two had the finish to themselves, third placed Kinzi proving too green in the early stages to ever get on terms despite staying on well. Fourth home, La Mathilde, didn’t build on her fairly promising debut and looked unsuited by the first time blinkers.
Tuesday’s maiden at Chantilly looked a better race as befitted it’s 13.5k euros winning prize. Less than a length covered the first four home with 20/1 shot Smart And Fast getting up on the line to pip favourite Miramar by a head with newcomer Let’s Party Girl a neck back in third with a further short head to Honneur’s Lodestar in fourth.
The winner had finished behind Miramar on their respective debuts in a similar race over course and distance (run in a 1.4 sec quicker time than this contest however) and I thought she was favoured by racing down a slightly faster strip of ground in the centre of the course – the first two in the following Group 3 race for three-year-olds also came down the same strip – and I wouldn’t expect her to beat the runner up if they meet again. Let’s Party Girl showed a lot of pace but was favoured by the race conditions being a claimer ridden first time out filly and thus getting a nice chunk of weight off most of her rivals.
Yann Barberot hasn’t yet had a winner from his seven runners but all bar one have been in the first four and they seem to have been ready to run well first time up. I’ve therefore assumed that his Honneur’s Lodestar, who was doing his best work at the finish, has run to the same mark as his debut and based the form around him and sixth placed Circeichope for whom similar remarks apply.
The next two races are both claimers, one over 950m on the all-weather surface at Marseille Pont de Vivaux on Friday and a more valuable race at Fontainebleau on Saturday. That is followed by a debutants race at Chantilly on Monday which hopefully might feature some eyecatchers.
Two more claimers to report on although there is virtually nothing to say about the four runner 950m race run on the all-weather surface at Marseille Pont De-Vivaux. The winner, Oulahlah, comes from a good yard and was dropped to this grade following an ok run in maiden company behind Lesslepasser. He made pretty hard work of winning however, scoring narrowly from the previously well beaten Madame Babette. The two newcomers filled the last two places and although both showed a modicum of promise they will do well to score outside this class.
The race at Fontainebleau was worth nearly twice as much and attracted a better field. Lagoon Chope was sent off odds-on and became the first juvenile to win two races this season although he again didn’t look totally straightforward and had to be ridden right out to make sure of victory having been cruising at the 400m pole. He has now run three times against Jazzy Wood and beaten him more decisively each time and now looks a bit better than claiming company. This was Jazzy Wood’s fourth race of the season so far but his first since being claimed following his close second to Sam Blaster at La Teste Buch. He doesn’t do much wrong in his races and deserves to get his head in front but it will be a very weak race that he is able to win.
Pierre-Charles Boudot was booked for Affaires D’Argent who had shown good speed on his debut in maiden company at Lion D’Angers and punters took the hint sending him off at 9/2 third fave. However he looked one to have some doubts about, veering left as the stalls opened, then running very freely in front in the first time blinkers before dropping tamely away when headed at the 400m pole. His trainer, Cedric Boutin is already a disappointing 0-15 with his juveniles this season and this is not a yard to follow.
A more noteworthy run came from debutante Pink City. Not especially well fancied, going off at 12/1 this daughter of Showcasing was soon chased along and outpaced in rear. The penny started to drop around halfway when she was switched to the centre of the track by Ambre Molins and made headway to hold every chance at the 400m pole. Inexperience then took over and she veered sharply left when put under pressure and though running on well when straightened up she was never able to get back on terms.
In to be claimed for 20000 Euros, Fréderic Rossi went to 36500 to secure this filly for his established owners LH. It is worth noting that he did something similar after Lagoon Chope’s first start and we all know how that has turned out. One to be on next time I think.
Tomorrow there is a newcomers race at Chantilly which I will review in due course.
Probably the best, and most interesting, race of the season so far today at Chantilly. The winner was the well-backed favourite Faro De San Juan, Francis-Henri Graffard’s first juvenile runner of the season. The colt clearly knew his job and Pierre-Charles Boudot had him quickly into his stride and although pressed inside the last 200m, I felt this son of Almanzor had a bit up his sleeve and can win again in higher grade. Stephane Wattel was also saddling his first two-year-old runner, Perfect Colour and although she wasn’t unfancied at 5/1 she wasn’t quite as forward as the winner. She was noticeably green when asked for maximum effort at the 200m pole and Theo Bachelot didn’t give her a hard time when it was clear the winner had her measure. This kindness should be repaid next time out.
Less well fancied was the third Glenallbut this 20/1 shot, representing Gavin Hernon also ran with credit despite carrying his head high and being inclined to hang right virtually throughout. Probably not in the class of the first two he will surely find a small race in the next couple of months.
The last of the eyecatchers was Khamma. Her stable hasn’t yet hit form and she ran as though in need of the run, showing good speed in the centre of the course for 700m but quickly being left behind by the principals. She was only ridden to maintain fourth with hands and heels and is likely to do better with this under her belt.
Two races tomorrow, both maidens and both featuring horses previously flagged up in this thread:
10.50 Marseille-Borely Secret Feeling
1.50 Bordeaux-Le-Bouscat Feeling LuckyTwo races with short price favourites and two favourites beaten out of sight. Frederic Rossi must have thought he had found an excellent opportunity for Vanille Bleue having claimed the filly after her debut win as the unusual race conditions of the “maiden” at Marseille-Borelly allowed winners of claimers to participate. She was duly sent off at 4/11 in this field of six, but having raced prominently for the first 600m she was soon ridden along with very little response. This was obviously too bad to be true.
There was a good finish to this contest with Gorl Pit getting the better of the previously noted Secret Feeling by the minimum margin. These two had finished second and third behind Lesslepasser on their debuts and whilst I expected Secret Feeling to show greater improvement, Gorl Pit was better off at the weights so perhaps it’s not too surprising that she was able to confirm the form.
The three newcomers all showed promise here under fairly tender rides as the field concertinaed together in the closing stages but I think they will need another race under their belts before being able to strike so am not adding any of them to the notebook at this stage.
Over at Bordeaux-Le-Bouscat Jean=Claude Rouget had an unusually early runner, representing the Aga Khan, in the shape of Kesariya and she too was all the rage sent off at 5/4 getting lumps of weight off the rest of the field. However, she was as green as the famous silks of her owner, pulling very hard for the first half of the race and inclined to hang all the way up the straight. Presumably better was expected and it’s worth noting that Rouget’s runners had an excellent record on their second start last year, but you would like to see a bit more evidence of ability and tractability before backing this one.
In contrast to the Marseille race, this field were well strung out with Speed Chop finally getting his act together and coming good at the third time of asking. He reversed Tarbes running with the previously noted Feelin Lucky , making all at a slow pace and winning pretty much unchallenged.
The runner up still looked green and may improve further, whereas Nouvelle Belle again showed good pace until not quickening over 300m out. I thought she had a hard race on her debut and have assumed she didn’t have much improvement in her and has run to about the same mark here. That suggests this race was of a similar level to the one won by Anterselva at Lyon-Parilly.
That horse (Anterselva) runs again over the same course and distance tomorrow in a conditions race that features three previous winners and Maroon Six who has been a good second on both starts to date. It should be an interesting event.
I rather downplayed the efforts of 33/1 debut scorer Have A Good Day after she had won at Chantilly but that view was shown to be totally wrong as she followed up in a conditions race at Lyon-Parilly on Thursday in decisive style comfortably beating two other previous winners.
I thought she still looked green here but she was still able to readily draw clear in the last 200m and looks a nice prospect. Both the previous winners, Anterselva and Sam Blaster held every chance and appeared to run to their marks which gives the form a solid look although I have Maroon Six running slightly below par here which is also true of fourth place Chope Comedy, suggesting I have probably overrated their first run at Lyon-Parilly where both finished in front of Anterselva, that filly racing prominently there whereas she has been held up subsequently.
Next up is a very interesting conditions race at Longchamp on Sunday featuring three unbeaten runners, Jose Josephine, Ma Noire and Lesslepasser and also dual scorer Lagoone Chope making a quick re-appearance after her win at Fontainebleau on April 24th.
There are also two maidens for unraced horses at Tarbes the same day which have only attracted small fields but Jean-Claude Rouget has runners in both.
Four two-year-old races from Sunday to review although there is nothing to say about the claimer from Nimes other than it was a very low grade race with the highest claiming price only 9000 euros and that the four who ran in an equally dismal race at Marseille Pont de Vivaux re-opposed with a totally different outcome. Enough said.
Longchamp staged the most valuable race of the season so far, attracting four previous winners, including three unbeaten runners. It was the least fancied of that quarter, Jose Josephine, who maintained her unbeaten record stretching out well in the final 200m to win comfortably at 20/1. She will find life harder now having won a “Classe 2” race but may try and strike again before the better runners come out. Ma Noire made all on her debut and tried the same trick here but had no response to the winner’s change of gear but still ran with credit.
Lesslepasser was a rather disappointing favourite, pulling hard and inclined to race with his head to one side. I’m undecided if this was a temperament issue or he just didn’t settle. He had done it well enough on debut when also favourite but he did unseat his rider after the line on that occasion so maybe isn’t one to trust implicitly. Lagoone Chope has been very busy, winning two claimers having been beaten, and then claimed, on her debut. She found this step up in class a bit too much but seemed to run her race and can probably be used as a yardstick for the form.
The most interesting performance for the future however came from third place Lining Up. She had run a solid race on debut behind subsequent winner Have A Good Day despite running green and she still didn’t look the finished article here. Sent off at only 10/1 despite facing a tough task on form she lacked the pace to get on terms with the front two but can surely win a run of the mill maiden on this evidence, a step up in trip would help.
Meanwhile at Tarbes there were two races confined to newcomers. The colts race attracted only five runners and was won quite impressively by Didier Guillemin’s Morris Bonas. He quickened up nicely in the straight and could have won by double the official 1.75 lengths had he not been eased close home. This was a nice performance although obviously the merit of the form is unknown at this stage. However, the one from this race that is going in the notebook is runner up Sluzewiec. Jean-Claude Rouget’s son of Invincible Spirit enjoyed a nice run round, racing prominently and taking a keen hold until lack of race craft and/or fitness saw him not be able to match the winner’s acceleration. Not put under any pressure by Jean-Bernard Yquem he was still able to hold on for second. Expect him to come on a bundle for this and to go very close next time.
Staying with the Rouget stable, they were responsible for the short priced favourite in the fillies race, Keshana, owned by the Aga Khan. This trainer/owner combination of course saddled another short-priced debutante, Kesariya, recently who was well beaten but a repeat of that setback never looked likely here. Always going well, this daughter of Iffraaj sauntered clear in the final 300m and won with any amount in hand. I usually avoid flagging up these impressive winners as they tend to be overbet next time out but I shall be making an exception here. Rouget usually leaves plenty of improvement in his first time out runners and knows this family well having trained the dam, Kestila, to win four times in 2015/16.
Also in the fillies race, Tafser was seen making stealthy headway on the far side and despite not getting anywhere near the winner, she showed enough here to suggest she will be winning in maiden company when stepped up in trip.
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