It has been another busy week in French racing and trotting with news developments including Christophe Soumillon, the conclusion of the Vincennes Winter Meeting, UK jump trainer Nick Williams and much more.
Flat
Winner of the G3 Prix Daphnis (1600m), Bellharbour Music resumed racing at Cagnes-sur-Mer two weeks ago finishing fifth in the Listed Prix Saonois (1600m). Trained by Alessandro & Giuseppe his next planned run will be on Thursday in the Listed Prix Altipan (1600m) at Saint Cloud. This is shaping up to be a strong race with other entries including The Revenant and G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (1600m) placed Colosseo. The Andre Fabre trained Midtown is also nominated.
Impressive January Cagnes-sur-Mer winner Solebay disappointed when sixth in the Class 2 Prix de Porquerolles with the excuse being the sticky ground. She will have the opportunity to redeem herself on Thursday in the Listed Prix Rose de Mai (2000m). This race is traditionally the opening black-type event for filles targeting the Classic G1 Prix de Diane (2100m) in June. Other fillies engaged include Argave (closely related to Enable) who is trained by Andre Fabre.
Jockey Alejandro Gutierrez Val is having terrific success at present. Since February 10th his win strike rate is around 50%! From that date to last Friday, he had 23 race rides and won eleven races including three at Bordeaux. Originally from Spain, the 24-year-old works primarily with trainer Philippe Sogorb and had his first ride in France in 2016.
French G1 winner Alson will commence his stallion career in Germany this year at Gestüt Fährhof. He is listed to service mares including Tijuana, the dam of last years' G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2400m) winner Torquator Tasso and Iota, dam of In Swoop, runner-up in the 2020 edition of the 'Arc'. A four-time winner at two, Alson was second in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (1600m) and won the G1 Criterium International (1400m). At three he ran third in the Classic G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (1600m) and won the Listed Prix Matchem (1400m). His bloodlines are very German based.
Last Wednesday at Marseille-Vivaux, Christophe Soumillon and Fabrice Vermeulen stole the show! Combining to win the first three races on the card (all short-priced favourites) with Winnan, Hootton and Moni. They went their separate ways after with Vermeulen landing the prize in the fourth with Gold and Cash (Sylvain Ruis rode) whilst Soumillon then won races five and six with Kingstown and Moputo, both trained by Yoann Bonnefoy. This was the second time in less than a week Soumillon had managed five winners on a card – he achieved the same result at Chantilly last Friday week (25 February).
The success for Christophe Soumillon did not end there…on Monday he rode the first four winners on the card, again at Marseille-Vivaux and was defeated by a half-head in the fifth race.
Trainer Stephane Wattel produced some smart two-year-old fillies last season including Wootton Diva, undefeated in her two starts, Rosacea, winner of the G3 Prix des Reservoirs (1600m), Dizzy Bizu, winner of the Listed Prix la Flèche (1000m) and Listed Critérium de Vitesse (1000m), and Lady Pink, a 1600m maiden winner at Marseille-Borély. All will remain in training. Targeted returns are Wootton Diva in the Listed Prix Montenica (1300m) at Chantilly on 16 March along with Dizzy Bizu in the Listed Prix Ronde de Nuit (1100m) on the same day. Rosacea is heading to the Listed Prix La Camargo (1600m) on March 19 at Saint-Cloud. Lady Pink (previously trained by Frédéric Rossi) will also be aimed for an early season Listed race.
At Cagnes-sur-Mer on 26 February, the initial round of the Défi du Galop was run with Palus Argenteus victorious. He naturally heads the table along with his trainer Christophe Escuder and Anthony Crastus for the jockeys.
Sibilia Spain, winner of the Listed Prix Liancourt (2100m), will make her seasonal reappearance in the G3 Prix Edmond Blanc (1600m) at Saint-Cloud on 2 April. Another horse raced by the same owners Sabio Cen, winner on debut at Fontainebleau, will either return in the Class 1 Prix Tourbillon (2100m) at Saint-Cloud or Class 1 Prix de Frauenfeld (2000m) at Longchamp.
Providing his rating is high enough to gain a start, trainer Nicolas Caullery has indicated his recent Meydan (UAE) winner Batwan will run in either the G1 Al Quoz Sprint (turf) or the G1 Golden Shaheen (dirt) both over 1200m. Another of his good horses, Kenella who finished fourth in the Listed Prix de Cérès (1400m) will make her comeback at the end of April in a Class 2 at Longchamp with her seasonal target being the G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot (UK) in June.
Trotting
The Winter Meeting at Vincennes concluded on Saturday with the running of two Group One races. Below is the overall Premiership Table for the four-month festival:
Drivers
Eric Raffin with 85 winners (67 driven/18 mounted), Alexandre Abrivard 62 (40 driven/22 mounted) and Jean-Michel Bazire 45 (all driven)
Trainers
Jean-Michel Bazire with 52 winners, Loic Claude Dersoir 42 and Mathieu Abrivard 31
Stallions
Ready Cash topped the table with 36, Royal Dream 25 and Love You 24
A footnote to the G1 Prix de Paris Marathon Race (4150m) from last Sunday week is the winner Diable de Vauvert ran a new race record of 1'13"3 eclipsing two-tenths from the previous time held by Up and Quick set in 2015.
The G3 Prix Henri Desmontils (2850m) at Vincennes last Saturday was the final race for eleven-year-old Boss du Meleuc retiring with a career record of 87 starts with 24 wins and 22 placings and prizemoney of more than one million euros. His final victory was last December in the G2 Prix Paul Buquet (2850m) at Vincennes. Following the conclusion of the winter meeting, it is a requirement eleven-year-olds be retired.
Jump
The 2021 Crystal Cup (European Cross-Country challenge) awards were presented on Sunday at Auteuil. For the owner's French syndicate Ecurie des Dunes and Gigginstown House Stud from Ireland were successful and for the trainers Patrice Quinton and David Cottin whilst Kerstin Drevet, breeder of Vol Noir de Kerser received a cover to Latrobe (provided by Étreham stud farm, a key sponsor of the series). Best jockey was Felix de Giles.
Leading jump rider Regis Schmidlin has announced his impending retirement from the saddle and will turn his hand to training having passed his exam to gain a License.
At Angers on Saturday, jockey Théo Chevillard had four rides for four winners! His victories were Shawinigan, Sin Del Ria, Very Feathery and La Manigance. The jockey has now ridden nine winners this year.
UK jump trainer Nick Williams has won 38 Group races during the past fifteen seasons. He is relinquishing his UK License and upon approval of a training License will establish himself in France. His British stable will be retained by his ex-wife Jane and son. In France he will be based at the castle of Tout Y Fault, in the Allier. He is no stranger to French racing having won multiple black-type events including the G1 Grand Prix d'Automne (4800m) with Rêve de Sivola.
