 Thursday, Sept. 10th. On a day that featured races for thoroughbreds, Arabs, Anglo Arabs and AQPS horses, an unexpected visitor to Longchamp was English jump trainer Paul Nicholls, who has no doubt made the trip to the land of the Frogs to see Kauto Stone (With the Flow), half brother to Kauto Star (Village Star), run at Auteuil tomorrow, writes Sally-Ann Grassick.
The €34,000 Prix de la Masseliere (1600mT) was a race reserved to 2 year old fillies. Only 6 runners went to post, all of which had either previously won or been placed, with the only exception being the eventual winner Kartica (Rainbow Quest), who finished 7th on her only other run to date at Deauville in early August in the red hot Prix des marettes beginners'. The Philippe Demercastel trained filly was challenged by the eventual 3rd placed Printemps D'Alscace (Xaar) in the straight but once she had successfully fought off this attack nothing else could get close to her, not even the 2nd placed M'Oubliez Pas (El Corredor). The winner was ridden by Stephane Pasquier who was very positive about her future prospects after the race, "She is still growing and she is not at her maximum yet. She has a big future ahead of her as she has a lot of potential but we can't rush her, she needs more time still. I galloped her a few weeks ago and asked Philippe to take things easy with her for the moment as she still felt quite weak. She has improved immensely from her first run and was very easy to ride today, she is a filly you can put anywhere in a race." Trainer Philippe Demercastel is also hopeful for her future, "It is rare to see 2 year olds by Rainbow Quest winning, they usual get better with age and need a lot of time. I have no plans for her future as of yet, but it is possible that she will run a Listed or Group 3 later in the year as the softer ground would be a benefit to her." This filly was bought by agent Paul Nataf for €50,000 as a yearling at the 2008 Arqana Deauville August sale (click here for her pedigree). She is out of the Listed winning and Group 3 placed mare Cayman Sunset (Night Shift), her half brother by Dansili was purchased by MV Magnier last week at Doncaster for £200,000 where he was the top lot.
A first in the AQPS Arc
The €45,000 Prix de Craon (2400mT) is to AQPS horses in France what the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is to thoroughbreds. The winner of this prestigious race was the Fabrice Foucher trained Quisful Tercah (Useful), with Ronan Thomas in the saddle for his only ride of the day. Foucher, who is based in Maine-et-Loire in the west of France, holds a public licence for 2 years. He was having his 16th winner of the season today and his first ever runner at Longchamp. After the race he was obviously overjoyed with his success, "He is an amazing horse, he is rock solid. He should have won at Nantes but we messed him about too much when we should have let him run on and do his own thing. They went a good pace today and he responded well when he was attacked by the other runners. I stopped running him over jumps this year because I wanted to concentrate on winning the AQPS flat races. He his finished for the season now and he will come back over jumps next year as he is a lovely jumper." When questioned about his other runner in the race Quincy Mae (Rifapour), who has had 5 back to back wins this year, he replied "He had a hard race over a hard course last time and I knew that he had lost his form but I felt I had to run him in this race."
The €45,000 Grand Prix des Anglo-Arabes (2400mT) was won by the Carole Dufreche trained France du Pecos (Rosy Fast), who was roared home by her trainer, in the hands of Ioritz Mendizabal. The 4 year old filly won by a length from the Johan Victoire ridden Maregko (Le Pigeon), with Quantara Trois (Chef De Clan) a short neck in 3rd.
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