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Saturday, April 3rd – Auteuil. Winner of the two top French hurdle contests last season and quite impressive this term for his return, Questarabad (Astarabad) failed to confirm in the €130,000 Prix Hypothese Hurdle (Gr3-3,900m). He came along as usual in the backstretch but was unable to sustain his effort going into the two last hurdles and only stayed on in third. On the contrary, the front running Vitray (Morespeed) accelerated again jumping the last and let the old (an 11yo jumper is regarded as an antiquity in France), well seasoned Grande Haya (Solid Illusion) finish second 8 lengths behind the winner.
Questarabad’s trainer Marcel Rolland was left scratching his head : “Everything was fine with him coming into the race but Regis Schmidlin (his rider) told me that he never felt he could make it today. We will monitor the situation and make some tests in the next few days. Questarabad has won in deep ground but he did not seem to like it today. It was a very tiring ground.”
The in-form Jehan Bertran de Balanda was rather pleased with the outcome : “It’s great to win such a race,” he said. “Vitray is tough as old boots and he keeps getting better although he’s 8. Christophe Pieux gave him a fine ride. The horse is a fighter and with the heart he’s got, I knew he would go all the way.”
The next big hurdle race at Auteuil is the €175,000 Prix Leon Rambaud Hurdle (Gr2 – 3,900m).
Winner of the three Auteuil hurdle championship in 2006 and 2007, Zaiyad (Sadler’s Wells) hacked up in the €46,000 Prix Arthur Veil-Picard Hurdle (3,600m) for his return after a long lay-off. Now trained by Christophe Aubert for Camille Koury, the ex-Mulryan-Chaille champion gave Christophe Pieux a third win on the day at 7/2, which is a pretty generous price considering he was up against more modest hurdlers.
Yet, the second-placed Polar Rochelais (AC-Le Balafré) won the €240,000 Prix des Drags Chase (Gr2) last season while the fourth Objectif Special (Ungaro) won the French National in April 2009.
No race went under a kilometre rate under 1’20’’ today which shows how holding the ground was.
Romantisme – Katenko outclasses a good field
Second to Salder Roque (Muhtathir), who won again at Auteuil since then, for his hurdling debut, 4yo Katenko (Laveron) won from pillar to post in the €44,000 4yo Males Prix Romantisme Hurdle (3,500m) over a heavy surface. The Jehan Bertran de Balanda-trained scopey bay led the 20-strong field all the way and shrugged off a timid effort from stable mate Monetaire (Anabaa) entering the straight to score handily by eight lengths while Al Bucq (Goldneyev) finished well to catch Monetaire in the last strides.
Bred at Pierre de Montesson’s Haras des Coudraies, the handsome gelding is another offspring from the great Kotkie line which gave Katko, Kotkijet and Kotkita. He was unsold at €25,000 at the 2008 Arqana Summer Sale (click here for catalogue page) but Samuel Blanchard’s Winning bloodstock secured him afterwards.
“He’s a good horse and I was confident he’d do well today but I was a bit concerned with the ground as he’s a stocky horse who could have minded,” said the winning trainer. “I shall find another race for him before tackling the best of his generation but he’s a late maturing horse and there are plenty to look forward to. I’d say the same about Monetaire, who came too soon and would have kept the second place otherwise. This Alec Head-bred horse should also do well in the near future.”
Fleuret – Saint Chenet avenges himself
The Marcel Rolland-trained 4yo Saint du Chenet (Poliglote), a brother to Grand Steeple-second Ma Royale (Garde Royale) had been knocking at the Group Chases’door for a while and most observers reckoned he’d have troubled the Macaire-Cherel almighty connection last time out in the Prix Duc d’Anjou Chase (Gr3-3,500m) had he not made a big mistake in the back stretch. He avenged himself with style in the €150,000 Prix Fleuret 4yo Chase (Gr3-4,100m), which he won by six lengths in front of Keeping Gold (Goldnevev) and the frontrunner Ole Companero (Sholokhov).
Bred by Marie-Laure Besnouin in Normandy, the tall gelding was unsold €5,000 at the 2008 Arqana Summer Sale (click here for catalogue page) and Magalen Bryant bought a half share privately afterwards to his breeder. 6th in the Prix Finot 3yo Hurdle for his Auteuil debut, he was witched to the chase immediately as Marcel Rolland thought his jumping ability would make a difference over the bigger obstacles. “He was outpaced in the Finot and I did not bother trying again. He’s a late maturing type, not as much as Ma Royale though. He can still make the odd mistake, like he did last time out, but (his rider) Regis Schmidlin told me that he was better today so we should see how he does next time. I assume we’ll now follow the classic route with the (€220,000) Prix Jean Stern 4yo Chase (Gr2-4,100m).”
Keeping Gold did very well as he led early on along Ole Companero and although he lost his place in the back stretch he came back well to take the second place in the run in. Bred and trained by Guy Cherel, he’s a brother to Auteuil winner and Gr3-Chase placed Barramundi (Lyphard’s Wish).
The Prix Romantisme was won last year by another son of Poliglote, the 2010 Coral Cup winner Spirit River.
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