Tag Archive for: Longchamp

Dancing mixing it with the stars on Sunday

Roger Teal’s Dancing Gemini is bidding for French Classic success as he takes his chance in the Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains at Longchamp on Sunday.

The Camelot colt acquitted himself well as a two-year-old, winning a Newbury maiden and the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster.

On his final run last year, he was fifth in the Group One Futurity Trophy back at Doncaster, though the heavy ground there was not considered ideal and he will encounter a better surface in France.

The bay is drawn in stall four, a competitive berth and one Teal is hoping will bode well after connections chose to head across the Channel with the horse instead of the Rowley Mile.

“He’s great, he’s done very well over the winter and we’ve been incredibly pleased with him,” said Teal.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to has told me that you need a low draw at Longchamp and I was dreading it, I thought we were guaranteed to get 13!

“For once we were lucky and actually got a decent draw so I’m happy with that.”

Of the decision not to head to Newmarket, Teal added: “The owner was pretty keen to go to France. I agree you shouldn’t be afraid of one horse, but I think it was probably the sensible thing to do.

“The decision is made so we’ll go over and hope he runs well.”

Aidan O’Brien has a high-profile unbeaten contender in Henry Longfellow, a Dubawi colt who won three successive Curragh contests last year – including the Group Two Futurity Stakes and the Group One National Stakes.

Henry Longfellow winning the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh
Henry Longfellow winning the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh (Damien Eagers/PA)

He sidestepped the English Guineas to allow City Of Troy to make his ultimately unsuccessful bid, but now has his own chance to bring a Classic title back to his Ballydoyle yard.

“He’s in good form and he’s ready to start back,” said O’Brien.

“Obviously he had some very good form to his name last season, winning a Group Two and a Group One, and we’re hoping he’ll run another good race again.

“He’s done everything right this year and is ready to get going.

“This is his first time on a round track, so it will be different for him, but he’s in good form.”

O’Brien also runs the striking Diego Velazquez, winner of the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes last term.

“He’s working like a horse that will stay further than a mile, and would be comfortable going up to a mile and a quarter. So we think it will be good experience for him to get him out around Longchamp.

“It’s possible he could go to the French Derby after that, he’s in good form and working nice.”

Supercooled is trained by Andre Fabre for the Niarchos family and has run twice already this season, finishing second in the Prix Comrade and then winning the Prix Machado over course and distance.

Both runs were on heavy ground, but his two-length maiden win the season prior was on good to soft and connections are expecting him to appreciate better conditions.

“He’s been an exciting horse from the day he broke his maiden,” said Alan Cooper, racing manager for the owners.

“He had a bit of a setback later on in the season last year, but he’s done very well in conditions that are slower than ideal for him.

“On Sunday it is meant to be good ground and hopefully he will give a very good account of himself in his first black-type race.

“He takes a big step up, but Mr Fabre is there every day with him and likes him and we’ll see how he stacks up with those with proven Group form in the race. Like all Group One races, it will be very interesting.”

The Aga Khan silks are represented by Keran and Roshvar, trained by Jean-Claude Rouget and Francis-Henri Graffard respectively.

Keran was second in the Group Three Prix Djebel when last seen, with Roshvar a runner-up over course and distance on his last outing.

Georges Rimaud, director of the Aga Khan Studs in France, said: “Keran has worked very well and Jean-Claude Rouget thinks that he can stay a mile. It’s a gamble that’s worth taking.

“As for Roshvar, we’re continuing along the path we set ourselves. It’s true that he showed immaturity in the Prix Machado, but he’s learning through experience.”

Yann Barberot’s Beauvatier fared well as a two-year-old, winning four races and finishing third in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere before beginning this year with a second-placed run behind Ramadan in the Prix de Fontainebleau.

“Beauvatier worked very well on Monday morning. Maxime Guyon came to ride him,” Barberot said of the colt.

“He knows every inch of him and everything, so far, is going according to plan. The plan was, in fact, to ensure that he wasn’t fully wound up for his reappearance, with a view to stepping up on that effort in the Classic.

“He will have the notable advantage of being familiar with ParisLongchamp compared to the foreign colts.”

Christopher Head’s Ramadan is also a part of the field, with his Prix de Fontainebleau success preceded by a Listed win at Saint-Cloud.

Mathieu le Forestier, racing manager for owner Nurlan Bizakov, said: “The news concerning Ramadan is good and his trainer reports that he’s doing very well. His preparation has gone smoothly, and Christopher Head is following the pre-established plan.

“All the lights are flashing green. There won’t be that many runners, which means we can be more relaxed about our race plan. In a field of 13 runners, that’s enough to facilitate a fast-run race, while, by the same token, it should guarantee no hard-luck stories. The race should be a fluid one.

“Victory would be important in so many ways. Le Havre (the sire of Ramadan) died all too soon (in 2022) after putting the Haras de Montfort and Preaux stud on the map, so it would obviously make a lot of sense for us to have one of his sons as a stallion prospect.”

2023 Prix de l’Abbaye Trends

Run at Longchamp on the same day as the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the Prix de l’Abbaye is a Group One sprint run over a distance of 5f and run at Longchamp racecourse.

The race always attracts the best sprinters from across Europe and often all over the world, but in recent years the English-based yards have done well – winning 15 of the last 21 renewals.

Here at Geegeez we take a look back at past winners and highlights the key trends to take into the 2023 renewal, this year run on Sunday 1st October.

Recent Prix de l’Abbaye Winners

2022 - THE PLATINUM QUEEN (7/5 fav)
2021 – A CASE OF YOU (108/10)
2020 – WOODED (13/2)
2019 – GLASS SLIPPERS (128/10)
2018 – MABS CROSS (12/1)
2017 – BATTAASH (9/4 fav)
2016 – MARSHA (16/1)
2015 – GOLDREAM (15/2)
2014 – MOVE IN TIME (3/1)
2013 – MAAREK (15/2)
2012 – WIZZ KID (7/1)
2011 – TANGERINE TREES (14/1)
2010 – GILT EDGE GIRL (25/1)
2009 – TOTAL GALLERY (10/1)
2008 – MARCHAND d’OR (2/1 fav)
2007 – BENBAUN (13/2)
2006 – DESERT LORD (25/1)
2005 – AVONBRIDGE (10/1)
2004 – VAR (8/1)
2003 – PATAVELLIAN (9/1)
2002 – CONTINENT (4/1 jfav)

 

Prix de l’Abbaye Trends

21/21 – Aged 6 or younger
20/21 – Raced in the last 6 weeks
18/21 – Yet to win a Group 1 race
17/21 – Had won over 5f before
16/21 – Won between 3-6 times before
15/21 – Won by UK-based yards
15/21 – Finished in the top 3 last time out
14/21 – Favourites placed in the top 4
14/21 – Came from a single-figure draw
13/21 – Returned 10/1 or shorter in the betting
11/21 – Aged 5 or 6 years-old
7/21 – Had raced at Longchamp before
6/21 – Won last time out
4/21 – Ran at Newbury last time out
4/21 – Winning favourites
5 of the last 7 winners were aged 3 years-old
Just one winning 2 year-old since 1978 (The Platinum Queen, 2022)
Just one winner aged 7+ in the last 45 runnings

2020 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Betting Trends

Run over 1m4f the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is one of Europe’s most valuable Group One contests that is open to horses of either sex that are aged 3 or older and staged at Longchamp racecourse.

In recent years the contest has been dominated by the younger horses with 11 of the last 18 winners being aged 3 years-old, while 13 of the last 18 - came here off the back of a last time out victory. Last year we saw the John Gosden-trained Enable, who had won the race in 2017 and 2018, finish runner-up to the Andre Fabre runner - Waldgeist - which was trainer Andre Fabre's eighth success in the race.

Enable will be back for more in 2020 though, as she will be looking to become the first horse to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe three times.

Here at Geegeez, we are on-hand with all the key stats for the 2020 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – this year run on Sunday 4th October.

 

 

 

 

Recent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Winners

2019 – Waldgeist (131/10)
2018 - Enable (Evs)
2017 – Enable (10/11 fav)
2016 – Found (6/1)
2015 – Golden Horn (9/2)
2014 – Treve (11/1)
2013 – Treve (9/2)
2012 – Solemia (33/1)
2011 – Danedream (20/1)
2010 – Workforce (6/1)
2009 – Sea The Stars (4/6 fav)
2008 – Zarkava (13/8 fav)
2007 – Dylan Thomas (11/2)
2006 – Rail Link (4/7 fav)
2005 – Hurricane Run (11/4)
2004 – Bago (10/1)
2003 – Dalakhani (9/4)
2002 – Marienbard (158/10)

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Betting Trends

17/18 – Had won a Group 1 race before
16/18 – Had won over 1m4f before
14/18 – Had 4 or more runs that season
14/18 – Drawn in stall 8 or lower
13/18 – Priced 10/1 or shorter in the betting
13/18 – Drawn in stall 6 or lower
13/18 – Had won at least 5 times before
12/18 – Won last time out
12/18 – Had run at Longchamp before
11/18 – Had won at Longchamp previously
11/18 – Aged 3 years-old
10/18 – Placed favourites
9/18 – Won by a French-based yard
8/18 – Ran at Longchamp last time out
8/18 – Female winners
5/18 – Winning favourites
5/18 – Won by a UK-based yard
3/18 – Trained by Andre Fabre (won the race 8 times in all)
2/18 – Trained by Aidan O’Brien (2016, 2007)
3 of the last 11 Epsom Derby winners that season have won
The average winning SP in the last 18 years is 15/2
Trainer John Gosden has won 3 of the last 5 runnings
Since 1976 we’ve seen just 3 winners aged 5 or older
18 of the last 26 winners were aged 3 years-old
Jockey Olivier Peslier has won the race 4 times
Jockey Frankie Dettori has won the race 6 times

 

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Monday Musings: Allez France

We were simply kidding ourselves, writes Tony Stafford. Friday May 15th sounded a nice date for racing in the UK to resume and, with three meetings in France today as the shining example and some of the domestic trainers suggesting they would be ready by then, we waited for Boris to offer some encouragement on Sunday night. No such luck.

The PM’s message, supplanting the old “stay home” slogan with “stay secure” while allowing extra outside time for exercising was hardly the hoped-for signal suggesting the return of professional sport in any form. Horse racing it appears, even behind closed doors, will have to wait its turn.

At least horseracing enthusiasts, starved of meaningful action for eight weeks, will have full coverage on Sky Sports Racing from all three returning reunions, Longchamp, Compiegne and Toulouse. Coverage from Longchamp starts with a bang at 9.55 with the five-furlong Prix Saint Georges, one of four Group races on the Parisian track.

Wall-to-wall action will ensue until late evening and whatever else is uncertain in these unnatural times, there will be a relief that betting on something tangible will at last be available. Bookmakers and the exchanges will be doing great business and in the way of such things, the possible resumption dates for the UK are probably most accurately signalled by Betfair Exchange’s special markets. June 1st (on or before), so two weekends on from the putative first date on Friday, at 5 a.m. today was a pessimistic 2.26 (5-4) for yes and 1.72 (8/11) for no.

Slightly less predictable was the market on Royal Ascot going ahead on the normal opening date of June 16 which was 2.84 (almost 15-8) for yes and 1.52 (1-2) for no. Racing had seemed to believe that the Royal meeting was sacrosanct, but maybe the monarch will be open to a date adjustment, or perish the thought, even accept a one-year blank. A restart of racing by July 1 was 1.2 or 5-1 on. No doubt the talks between government and the racing lobby, with the more vociferous trainers at its helm, will be continuing. For the sport to expect to be made a special case might be hard to gain much traction while so many others are still making life-changing sacrifices every day.

So let us enjoy the French for a change. At least their sport has a tradition where spectators are almost an after-thought, so sparsely have they traditionally attended except when the Brits come en bloc to the Arc. The Pari-Mutuel monopoly over generations meant a traditional culture of the morning Tierce bet in the coffee shops and bars and non-attendance at the sports. The betting there, like everywhere else, has benefited from technological advance and it is hard to argue with a racing administration that can produce three cards that between them offer around £800,000 in overall prize money on a single day.

I think I’ve mentioned before that when Racing TV (ex Racing UK) pinched Irish Racing from At The Races (now Sky Racing), few thought that having the French stuff dumped on them as a token was anywhere near an equitable exchange. But they quickly found an excellent equivalent to Racing UK’s outgoing professional Frenchman, Claude Charlet, in Laurent Barberin, whose patient unflappable style and genuine knowledge of his subject has been highly impressive. While many of Ireland’s races on busy UK days nowadays inevitably clash and require split screens or even delayed relaying, Sky has made a big move forward. Today will be a great opportunity and for its presenters represents something of a penalty kick.

The trio of fixtures reflects France Galop’s new-found flexibility where its financial muscle is shrewdly stretched throughout the day. Longchamp kicks off mid-morning, 10.55 a.m. in France, so an hour earlier here and there will be unbroken coverage throughout its ten-race card which concludes at 2.35 p.m. BST.  It would be hard to imagine a single UK meeting on a Monday afternoon offering anywhere near as much as £230,000 yet remarkably that figure is comfortably outstripped by its near-neighbour Compiegne, around 60 miles to the north, whose own ten-race card weighs in at a hefty £350k.

Compiegne is an all-jumps programme with no race worth less than £30k. It offers decent fields throughout with the top trainers and jockeys all on show. Sky again will show all ten races from the 3.05 starting time to a 7.35pm conclusion. A good proportion of the evening mixed fixture at Toulouse will also be featured. This begins at 5.20 UK time, so overlaps Compiegne. Another ten-race affair begins with a hurdle race and two chases, with the remaining seven events on the Flat. Two of these are Listed (worth £38k each in total), while two more are confined to Arabians, including a Group 2, the finale at 9.42pm.

Toulouse, in the South of France, is one of the more important provincial tracks, and offers only £10k less overall prize money tonight than the £230k available at the Group race-sprinkled principal meeting at Longchamp.

Listening to Barberin, from his home in Bordeaux yesterday, I got the impression he would be in for the long haul today. It seems as though he hopes to abandon ship after the second Listed race at Toulouse, (7.20) when he and the cameras might be taking their leave, so Arabian horse fans could be denied. But that still leaves around 25 mostly high class French races to tickle the punters’ fancy. My own fancy, I must confess, has been tickled by one name, Je Deviens Moi – I want to be (or become) me! He runs in a conditions race at 5.05 at Compiegne and, while up in class, goes for four in a row.

I would hope that, following France’s example, when UK racing does return there could be at least one attention-grabbing card rather than some routine betting-shop dross that can do little more than stifle enthusiasm. Okay, we want opportunities for all owners and trainers, but in the crucial early stages, racing should have something special to offer. The good horses have been training towards their comebacks and the possible normal path to stardom. They will need suitable targets, especially as if we do have to wait for a start into June, the season will already have been drastically truncated.

The French have successfully averted one major political threat to their return and it came from a by no means inconsiderable quarter. It seems French Ligue 1 football teams were unimpressed by having their return to action delayed until September or whenever and tried a spiteful legal block against racing’s resumption. In Nicolas Clement, the trainers have got the right man at the helm!

Now the stage – Covid-19 permitting, and the numbers of fatalities and infections in France have been going down steadily – should be set for their mile Classics being run in three weeks. Let’s all hope for a problem-free day. At least the spectators won’t be getting in the way - not that they ever do over there!

- TS