Our man in France Jason Kiely guides us towards some of the horses to follow at Vichy and also a trainer he expects to have a good afternoon.
Ten quality races to get excited about from Vichy today where the focus is on speed with five of the ten scheduled to be ran over the 1,000m (five furlong) trip. An incredible €220,000 prize-money is on offer across the card and this has enticed most of the country’s leading trainers to head southbound.
The Italian job at Vichy
Based in Chantilly for a number of seasons now, Italian-born Andrea Marcialis has begun to break into the big league of trainers in France and the thirty-five year old handler has been in exceptional form since the return to racing, saddling eight winners over the last two weeks.
With seven runners scheduled to take their chances on today’s card, Marcialis will be hoping to replicate his yard’s success of last Friday's meeting at Vichy, where the saddled three winners from ten runners.
The trainer's successful association with jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot could also be bonded even further as the crack rider gets leg-up on three of the Marcialis trained runners, who all look to have strong chances.
The pair team up in the first race with Ossun Jet (11.40), who was supplemented into this race at a late stage (which is generally a good sign). The daughter of Wootton Bassett has filled the runner-up spot in both of her lifetime starts and runs for a second time in claiming company today.
Having been beaten only a head by her stablemate Broken Land when last seen in March, Ossun Set should be difficult to beat back over 2,000m if she can get her own way on the speed in a race that looks marginally weaker than her previous assignment.
Next up is Anfrati (14.00) who drops down to 1,000m for the first time having been placed on multiple occasions over slightly further distances. Again a daughter of Wootton Bassett, Anfrati has shown plenty of speed in the early part of her races and may benefit from the step down in trip although she will need to settle better than she has been doing recently, Boudot will take the ride for the first time on the filly who will also be fitted with cheekpieces, but this still may not be enough and she may find Calypso Rose too strong a rival.
The final Marcialis/Boudot card to be played is On The Edge (14.35), who is having her second start for the Italian trainer and was narrowly beaten on her stable debut two weeks ago. On The Edge looks to be back on track since changing stables and as the daughter of George Vancouver’s rating has plummeted enormously it is entirely possible that she can get back to winning ways if taking well to today’s new distance of 1,000m.
She was a dual sprint winner as a two-year-old and travelled strongly on her recent return to sprinting, wilting only inside the final 25 yards.
Anobar finally has her perfect opportunity
Possibly the strongest of all the Marcialis runners today is Anobar (16.20) who takes on only four rivals in an attempt to shed her long overdue maiden tag.
By far the class of the field Anobar has been placed on all ten of her starts, including at Listed level and has amassed almost €70,000 without winning a race.
Associated once again with her regular jockey Tony Piccone, Anobar drops back down to the mile, the distance of her best ever performance. The daughter of Anodin has been highly tried and today contest sees her take a huge drop in class, although she may face some competition from the Francis Graffard-trained Perhaps who should prove better than her debut effort.
Talented Bergamasque makes awaited return
Not seen since an impressive two length victory at ParisLongchamp almost a year ago Bergamasque make her much awaited return to action in the Prix de Luzarches (16.55)
Trained by in-form Francis-Henri Graffard, who has always held this filly in high regard, the fact he has chosen to run her in a race of this nature is a telling sign.
The daughter of Sea The Stars will face six rivals in the 2,000m contest and is the only one not yet to have hit the target at Stakes level.
If we go back to that win in ParisLongchamp last summer, it is clear that Bergamasque is very talented. She broke well from the stalls and her jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot (rides her again today) sent her straight into the lead, where she set a true pace, before being asked to stride on as she entered the home-straight, winning under hands and heels for the the colours of Al Asayl France.
With the form of both her runs holding up nicely it was unfortunate to see her ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury and the only issue about today's comeback run could be the distance which is possibly on the short side and may play to the strengths of her rivals, notably Ficelle Du Houley.
One to note
One to keep an eye on in the €40,000 sprint handicap (12.50) is the Henri-Alex Pantall trained Muttrah Fort. The gelding made a return to action two weeks ago, when running an excellent race before getting tired towards the finish.
Sure to have come on for that run Muttrah Fort drops back down to 1,000m, a trip that suits the six-year-old well and he is drawn to strike in stall ten.
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