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News In Brief of French Racing and Trotting - 7th July 2022.
This week the News In Brief includes the winner of the 2021 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Torquator Tasso, trotting trainer Thierry Duvaldestin and trotting driver Eric Raffin.
Flat
Winning the Prix de Bagatelle (L) at Chantilly last Saturday, By All Means gave trainer Mario Baratti his first Black Type winner. Originally from Italy the horse moved and settled in France at the beginning of the year.
Rozgar is an exciting colt with only five starts to date and has never finished further back than second. Winner of the Prix Marchand d'Or (L) at Chantilly in early June, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard confirmed he will take his place in the Prix Jean Prat (Gr1) at Deauville on Sunday. He is raced by HH Aga Khan.
After finishing fourth in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (Gr1) Rosacea ran third in the Prix de Diane (Gr1) and appeared to relish the extra journey. Trainer Stéphane Wattel has indicated her next race will be at Deauville in the Prix de la Nonette (G2) over 2000m during mid-August.
Last Saturday at Hamburg in Germany the winner of the 2021 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Gr1), Torquator Tasso won his first race since his surprise victory in the Arc winning the Wettstar.de-Grosser Hansa-Preis (Gr2). His immediate target will be King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr1) at Ascot (UK) the end of July, subject to the ground not being too firm. He will return to Germany for the feature G1 at Baden-Baden in September and then to Longchamp to defend his Arc crown.
Trainer Jerome Reynier plans to give his grand horse Skalleti a rest whilst the tracks remain firm and return in the autumn with the prospect of softer surfaces.
Galifa, who is by Frankel, is beginning to live up to her early promise. Following wins at Fontainebleau and Longchamp, but only sixth in a Listed race at Le Lion-d'Angers in May, she will be targeted for a Listed contest at Merano in Italy during the middle of August and concentrate on Italy and German Black-Type races at the back end of the season.
Convincing winner of the Prix du Lys (Gr3) at Chantilly, Simca Mille will be supplemented for the Grand Prix de Paris (Gr1) to be run on 14 July at Longchamp. Both races are over 2400m. Stablemate The Good Man will accompany him to Longchamp to contest the Prix Maurice de Nieuil (Gr2).
Winner of her first two races at Marseille-Borély, Wootton City progressed to contest and win the Listed Prix La Flèche at Chantilly. Despite a weight penalty she will next run in the Prix Yacowlef (L) over 1000m. Trainer, Jerome Reynier, plans to keep her to shorter sprint races on straight courses.
Debuting on March 4 at Bordeaux, God Blessing was impressive and gave the impression there is more to come. At his second start, a Class 2 at La Teste, he won by four lengths. Trained by Damien de Watrigant, God Blessing will now be targeted for the Prix de Tourgéville (L) at Deauville on August 4. Following this, and assuming he measures up, he will go to the Prix Daphnis (Gr3) on August 20th.
Galaxie Gold has come a long way since winning a debut on the All-Weather at Pau in December. Over five starts he is yet to finish outside of either first or second with last start being the highlight running second in the Prix Hocquart (G2) at Longchamp in late May. He will have his next start in the Prix Eugène Adam (Gr2) at Chantilly on Sunday week.
Trotting
At the halfway point of the season, the trotting tally-board shows:
Drivers (based on wins)
Drivers
Alexandre Abrivard 123
Eric Raffin 115
Matthieu Abrivard 103
François Lagadeuc 81
Yoann Lebourgeois 75
Mounted
Matthieu Mottier 45
Alexandre Abrivard 42
Adrien Lamy 25
Éric Raffin 24
David Thomain 22
Trainers
Thierry Duvaldestin 99
Laurent Abrivard 92
Patrick Terry 85
Sébastien Guarato 75
Jean-Michel Bazire 70
Stallions
Love You 98
Ready Cash 94
Royal Dream 91
Booster Winner 89
Village Mystic 87
Multiple Group One winners are Vivid Wise As with three victories – all sprint races – Prix de France, Prix de l'Atlantique and Prix René Ballière whilst three-year-old colt Just A Gigolo won the Prix Comte Pierre de Montesson and Critèrium des Jeunes and Prix Albert Viel.
Vivid Wise As won the Prix René Ballière (Gr.1) at Vincennes last Sunday week in a record time of 1'09''1. This was his third G1 of the year having won the Prix de France in February and Prix de l'Atlantique at Enghien in April. His next target will be the Grand Prix de Wallonie (2300m, autostart) at Mons in Belgium on Sunday July 31.
Thierry Duvaldestin continues to dominate the training ranks. Last Saturday Gaston des Monts provided the stable their first winner at the Biarritz summer festival and at the same time gave the trainer his 100th winner of the season. As was the case in 2021 he is the first trainer to achieve this landmark in 2022. On Sunday both Iris des Roseaux and Head of State also won for the stable. Last year, Duvaldestin trained a record 239 winners. The winner at Biarritz was also special for driver Alexis Hureau notching up his 50th winner driving Gaston des Monts.
It was something different for driver Eric Raffin last weekend when he won his first race on the beach at Plestin-les-Grèves driving Huelva Duperouzel for Loïc Vauvert. This was his only drive at the meeting, arriving after a successful morning and early afternoon at St-Breuic where he had a winner. For only the second time in his career he competed in a beach-surface race. First time was back in 1999 at Jullouville-les-Pins (where he finished third).
The ninth stage of the Trophee Vert was run on Sunday at Sablé-sur-Sarthe and won by Grande de Ranchy, recording 1'17"8. A close second was Galago du Cadran, narrowly denying him a second success in this seasons' series. Felix du Bourg finished third.
Driver Qouentin Chauve-Laffay recorded his fiftieth career victory last Monday week at Hyères and quickly followed that up with a further winner. He is the son of Hervé Chauve-Laffay.
Jumping
Gold Tweet was a promising four-year-old steeplechaser in 2021. Winner of the Prix Hopper (Gr3) and third in the Prix Maurice Gillois (Gr1) he has not been seen since. Trainer Gabriel Leenders stated the gelding has returned to training after a lengthy break and there were no health issues for the horse. He will return in a hurdle and target the Prix Fondeur (L).
Buveur d'Air has been retired. The AQPS French bred eleven-year-old did most of his racing in England and his outstanding career saw him notch up eight Grade One races. Originally trained in France by Philippe Chemin where he won two flat races he was then sold and joined the stables of Nicky Henderson. He achieved his first G1 at the age of five in a Novice G1 at Aintree. His career highlight was winning the 2017 & 2018 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.