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Look De Vega impresses in Prix du Jockey Club

3 minute read

The Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club remained in French hands with Carlos and Yann Lerner’s Look De Vega maintaining his unbeaten run, earning quotes of 8/1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Racecourse : Chantilly (FR)
Racecourse : Chantilly (FR) Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

There was plenty of strong opposition from England and Ireland, with Aidan O'Brien's Diego Velazquez and Clive Cox's Ghostwriter expected to make a bold bid, but the inexperienced Look De Vega headed a domestic one-two-three.

Joint favourite Fast Tracker set a comfortable early pace with Diego Velazquez poised on the outside and eventual winner Look De Vega settled in midfield under Ronan Thomas. A gap opened up for Thomas as the field rounded the final turn and Look De Vega kicked clear, chased by the Andre Fabre pair First Look and Sosie, who finished second and third respectively.

Ghostwriter finished the best of the international challengers in fourth, with Diego Velazquez fading to eighth.

"The only thing we were a little bit worried about is that he came out of stall number three and everything had to go right at that moment," said Yann Lerner.

"But when I saw him get into that good position, I have never watched a race as relaxed as I did this one.

"When we won at Fontainebleau (in November) we immediately thought about this race, he had a more or less perfect winter until February, where we had a little bit of a setback, that was the only dark point in the past.

"What is really incredible is his mental state, we hadn't worked him a lot since his first seasonal reappearance.

"Between the two races he didn't do much, we took him to the Chantilly track because it was very important to us that he could see the track."

Look De Vega remains unbeaten in three outings and Paddy Power reacted favourably to the performance, shortening the colt from 33/1 to 8/1 for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.


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