Tag Archive for: Pascal Bary

Feed The Flame fuelling Bary’s Arc dream

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Feed The Flame will bid to give veteran trainer Pascal Bary a long-awaited victory in Sunday’s Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp.

Bary has handled a host of top-class runners during his lengthy career, sending out Classic winners in France, Britain and Ireland as well as saddling three Breeders’ Cup winners.

However, he has yet to taste success in the crown jewel of French racing, with Sulamani coming closest when finishing a three-quarter-length second to Marienbard in 2002 after Croco Rouge finished third behind Montjeu in 1999.

The Chantilly-based handler has plenty of faith in his challenger this year though, with Feed The Flame having made huge strides since his racecourse bow in April, finishing fourth to the reopposing Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club before going on to land the Grand Prix de Paris over the Arc course and distance in July.

While he had to settle for second place behind Fantastic Moon in his Prix Niel trial earlier this month, Bary believes the Kingman colt might find conditions more to his liking on Sunday.

He said: “He’s a very good horse, he has a very good temperament and he gets the mile and a half really, really well. I think on the day of the Arc, the ground will be slightly different and he will be more comfortable on that ground.

“Anything a bit softer than the ground he encountered in the Jockey Club, Grand Prix de Paris and Prix Niel would be appreciated.”

Feed The Flame was beaten two and a half lengths by Fantastic Moon – who could yet be supplemented for Sunday’s race – and Bary felt the decision to field King Of Records as a pacemaker perhaps played into the winner’s hands.

He explained: “I think I made a mistake by running a pacemaker because he worked much more for the German horse than he did for us. It’s not an easy race to run in because to bring a horse on from July 14 to the beginning of September, there’s not a lot of time.

Feed The Flame (left) was behind Fantastic Moon last time
Feed The Flame (left) was behind Fantastic Moon last time (France Galop)

“Christophe (Soumillon) sort of asked him when he came down into the false straight but at that point on that good ground, the German horse had taken off and Christophe was intelligent enough to just let the horse finish his race because he actually was probably missing a bit of work before he went into the race.

“The aim was not to have a race that was going to be too hard, but at the moment he was so far behind in the final straight, Christophe actually judged it was too late to ask him for a massive effort to bring him closer to the leader.”

Waiting tactics are usually employed on Feed The Flame and Bary does not anticipate any change to the plan in the Arc, even though he is likely to encounter the biggest field of his career to date, with 14 currently in contention after Sprewell dropped out at Tuesday’s second forfeit stage.

Bary said: “He’s a horse that knows how to accelerate and you have to ride him to his strengths. We have to adapt to the horse, he’s not going to adapt to us. In a race with a lot of pace and runners, this should not be an issue.

“If he is to the back of the field, there’s enough time to come forward. When he ran in the Jockey Club, Ace Impact was behind him and came through so he’s obviously the horse to beat. I don’t know much about the opposition but if Ace Impact can come forward, Feed The Flame is capable of accelerating.”

Feed The Flame is owned by Jean-Louis Bouchard and Bary is delighted to have a live contender for a long-standing ally.

He added: “It’s amazing that we have such a good horse towards the end of my career. Jean-Louis is very positive, we go to the race together and it’s a great opportunity.

“If he doesn’t win this year, he will win next year!”

Feed The Flame to limber up for Arc challenge in Prix Niel

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Grand Prix de Paris hero Feed The Flame will target the Prix Niel as he prepares to set his sights on the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The Pascal Bary-trained three-year-old has won three of his four runs since taking to the track for the first time in April.

He was an impressive five-and-a-half-length winner on debut at ParisLongchamp when running over a mile and two and half furlongs and stepped up incrementally later that month to strike again at the same track.

At Chantilly in early June he made the leap up to Group One company when contesting the Prix du Jockey Club and was far from disgraced on his first attempt at stakes level when finishing fourth of 11 runners.

That experience clearly served him well on his next start, as he then landed the Grand Prix de Paris back at Longchamp, a Group One over an extended mile and a half that he won by a length from Adelaide River and Oaks heroine Soul Sister.

That performance will pave to way to the Prix Niel at Longchamp in early September, which will in turn lead to the Arc as both races are run over the same course and distance.

Only Ace Impact and Hukum are in front of Feed The Flame in the Arc market, which is one of the few races to have so-far eluded his decorated handler.

“Tres bien, he is very well,” said Chantilly-based Bary.

“He’s to run on the 10th of September in the Prix Niel.

“He needs that (run over course and distance) before the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“He knows the course very well now, he has won there three times.”

Feed The Flame firing Bary’s Arc dream

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Pascal Bary is dreaming of finally getting his hands on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe trophy having seen Feed The Flame become a leading contender for Europe’s richest middle-distance contest.

The son of Kingman grabbed plenty of attention when winning ParisLongchamp’s Prix de Ferrieres with real ease earlier in the campaign and as a result was sent off one of the main players for the Prix du Jockey Club last month.

He was only able to finish fourth in the Chantilly Classic as Jean-Claude Rouget’s Ace Impact stole all the headlines.

However, a step up in trip to 12 furlongs saw him back to his imperious best in the Grand Prix de Paris, where he proved he was a proper Group One performer by swooping late to down Irish Derby runner-up Adelaide River and John and Thady Gosden’s Oaks winner Soul Sister.

“He should do well in the autumn and he will stay at a mile and a half now,” said Bary.

“He doesn’t make any effort during the race, he can go very well and then accelerate.

“The reason he finished fourth in the Jockey Club was he had to fight too early, it was too fast for him. When he has time, he has a very good turn of foot.”

Feed The Flame is a best priced 14-1 for the Arc on October 1 and with Bary envisaging typical autumnal ground at ParisLongchamp as a positive for his charge, he will tune up for his date with destiny by running at the track in the Group Two Prix Niel on September 10.

“He will go for the Prix Niel and then the Arc,” continued Bary.

“In the Prix Niel he will have to fight with Ace Impact and he is a very, very nice horse. Hopefully over this distance we can get our revenge.

“Then in the Arc, I don’t know, we will have to take on Ace Impact and some good horses coming from England and Ireland. He should be a bit better in soft ground.

“It will come quick, it is less than two months, it will soon be tomorrow.”

Feed The Flame hungry for French Derby success

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Pascal Bary’s Feed The Flame will bid to maintain his flawless record in the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly on Sunday.

The son of Kingman did not run as a two-year-old and made his debut at ParisLongchamp in April, winning a maiden by five and a half lengths under Christophe Soumillon.

He then returned to the same track later that month to contest the Prix de Ferrieres, a race he won by a length and a quarter over a mile and three furlongs.

The exciting colt has not been seen since and returns to action to try to make it three from three in the French Derby.

“We gave him some time off after he won for the second time, even though he had won easily twice,” said Bary.

“After that we’ve built him up again for Sunday.

“On his debut the ground was perfect, next time it was very soft but there is a big cushion in the ground at the moment, so there’s no reason he won’t handle it.

“I don’t think the draw (stall six) is going to be an issue, there are not going to be that many runners, but you have to ride him the way that suits him anyway.

“Christophe has ridden him. He hasn’t had a retainer this year. He’s one of the best jockeys, so if you can get him it makes sense.

“I do think he will be better over a mile and a half, despite his pedigree, but I think he’ll be quicker on his feet on Sunday than he has been in the past.”

Christopher Head will aim for the second Classic winner of his career as Big Rock attempts to extend a unbeaten run that has seen him win all four starts this term.

After taking a handicap and a Listed event, the Rock Of Gibraltar colt landed two Group Threes in the Prix la Force and the Prix de Guiche and now steps up both in trip and in grade.

“We didn’t know the limits of this horse, that was before he ran in the Prix de Guiche, he then won it by five lengths,” said Head, who trains the brilliant filly Blue Rose Cen.

“When I talk about limits, what I mean is that I didn’t really know how far he could go and he has proven that he is a horse that has a lot of speed and who can go over that trip.

“The thing is with him is that he’s got that cruising speed, he travels at that cruising speed and you can see how he finishes and how he responds over that trip.”

Continuous and Ryan Moore
Continuous and Ryan Moore (Donall Farmer/PA)

Ryan Moore will partner Aidan O’Brien’s Continuous, a Heart’s Cry colt who was last seen dead-heating for third in the Dante at York.

Prior to that he was twice a winner as a two-year-old, taking a Curragh maiden and then the Group Three Prix Thomas Bryon at Chantilly.

Moore told Betfair: “This looks a very hot contest. We have the French 2000 Guineas winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi, the unbeaten and unexposed Feed The Flame, and the impressive Chantilly winner Big Rock in here, to name but three, but I do think Continuous has a good shot at this.

“I thought he shaped very promisingly indeed for me when dead-heating for third with Passenger in the Dante, a race in which he just got a bit tired late on, on his first start since September.

“I would have thought that race would have brought him on a good deal, and he is a colt I rate. It’s a very deep French Derby but he should go well.”

O’Brien added: “Continuous is well. We’re happy with everything he’s done and we always thought soft ground suited him. He went to York and did it, and if it’s soft he definitely won’t mind it.”

Marhaba Ya Sanafi, trained by Andreas Schutz, takes his chance after a short-neck success in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the French 2000 Guineas, last time out.

The sole British-trained runner is John and Thady Gosden’s Epictetus, second to Auguste Rodin in the Vertem Futurity Trophy as a juvenile, the winner of the Listed Blue Riband Trial on debut this year and then fifth in the Dante. Frankie Dettori takes the ride.

Andre Fabre’s Flight Leader joins Yann Barberot’s American Flag and Alessandro and Giuseppe Botti’s Winter Pudding in the line-up.

Jean-Claude Rouget has a trio or runners in Rajapour, Padishakh and the unbeaten Ace Impact.

Feed The Flame ready to fire in Jockey Club test

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Pascal Bary has confirmed his unbeaten colt Feed The Flame will be supplemented for Sunday’s Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly.

The son of Kingman was unraced at two after a series of niggly problems, which meant Bary did not consider him as a suitable candidate to be part of the original entries.

However, he made a winning debut earlier this year, triumphing by five and a half lengths at ParisLongchamp, before returning that venue to beat subsequent Prix Hocquart winner First Minister with ease.

Bary, who holds the best record in the Prix du Jockey Club among currently active trainers with six wins, said: “Feed The Flame had a few issues at two and it was only in February that he started to come to hand and he has improved throughout with each run.

“He has only run twice, but he is professional enough that he can handle the Prix du Jockey Club.

“He’s a very big horse and like all big horses, he needed time to grow into himself. At the time the entries were made I never thought he’d be running this Sunday, but he has been supplemented.

“He only made his debut six weeks ago. I thought he would win but I didn’t think he would win that easily.

“We then ran him again quickly because I felt if he had any chance of running in this, he would need time between a second run and a Classic. When he won easily again we then made the decision the supplement him.”

Christophe Soumillon will maintain his partnership on the colt, the trainer also reported.

Bary’s six winners in the French Derby are Celtic Arms (1994), Ragmar (1996), Dream Well (1998), Sulamani (2002), Blue Canari (2004) and Study of Man (2018), with Celtic Arms, Ragmar and Blue Canari all sporting the Jean-Louis Bouchard silks that Feed The Flame will wear.

A total of 12 horses remain from the original entries, with supplementary contenders officially announced on Wednesday.

Among his potential rivals are French Guineas winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi, Andre Fabre’s Flight Leader, Christopher Head’s Big Rock and John and Thady Gosden’s Epictetus.