French racing column: Graeme North Sunday review

By Graeme North

11:19 · MON November 04, 2024

Just a reminder for those readers unaware that this will be the last French Flat round-up of 2024.

There are still a good number of listed races this year still left to be contested but all the Group contests are done and dusted until the traditional pattern curtain-raiser, the Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud next March, and until then the high-profile Sunday fixtures this column has previewed will nearly all be taking place over jumps.

Chantilly’s final important turf meeting of the year took place last Saturday and featured the Group 3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise over 1200m and the Group 3 Prix Miesque over 1400m as well as the listed Prix Isonomy over 1600m and the listed Grand Prix du Nord over 2000m.

Unfortunately, my fancy for the Seine-et-Oise, Monteille ran one of her lesser races, admittedly probably not helped by a position on the track wider than most but all in all it was a disappointing send-off for six-time French Derby winner trainer Pascal Bary whose last runner at the end of a long career in Group races it was. The sprint went to the Irish raider Oujda who was trained in France in her earlier days but has improved since joining Johhny Murtagh and found the heavy conditions very much to her liking as she followed up her listed race at Curragh last time.

On paper, the Stuart Williams trained Quinault looked the one to beat but for all he’s won at York and Newmarket on ground Timeform called soft earlier this year ground this deep probably wasn’t in his favour and he ran no more than respectably in third place.

If there’s a horse to follow from this race for next year, it’s fourth-placed Lucky Wine. He finished very fast and Christophe Ferland’s three-year-old by Wootton Bassett, who’d won a handicap at Longchamp on Arc weekend from a seemingly impossible position, has finished the year in great form and promises to make the breakthrough at this level next season.

OUJDA wins the G3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise

The other Group race, the Prix Miesque, looked a substandard affair. Won last year by this year’s Sun Chariot winner Tamfana, the lack of quality on display this time around was illustrated by the fact that the two market leaders, Iron Bird and Lhakpa, were horses who had both finished a long way behind Zarigana in the Prix d’Aumale and the Marcel Boussac.

Hardly surprising, then, that something improved past them with that filly being Mimos, whose previous two efforts in listed company had resulted in third place at Craon and fifth at Bordeaux. In contrast the listed race for two-year-olds, the Prix Isonomy, went to a gelding, Square d’Alboni, who looks as if he will make a name for himself next season. The classics are out as he’s already been gelded, but given he’s already shown he can travel without any issues he’ll likely be back in France again next year at some point given how well he handled the heavy ground.

The opposition wasn’t light – the second and third had both run to almost 100 on Timeform ratings while the fourth, who was sent off a strong favourite, had been a very impressive all-the-way winner on her previous start - but none was a match for Ralph Beckett’s youngster who had also run out a wide-margin winner at Salisbury on his previous start but left that form well behind here and would have won by several more lengths had he not been eased right down after cantering clear. I’ve rated him 107p which might well be on the low side and a step up to 2000m looks sure to bring about further improvement.

The Grand Prix du Nord was also won by a horse I’m sure will take higher rank next year, Map of Stars. There wasn’t much pace on and the result isn’t one to take at face value with the fourth looking flattered but the winner, who’s in the same stable as Calandagan and Goliath, is a physically-imposing son of Sea The Stars who will be seen to better effect in a more strongly-run race than this and being out of the Prix Vermeille winner Bateel looks sure to improve too when finally given the chance to tackle 2400m.

Last Sunday’s Saint-Cloud card hosted three Group 1s though the first of them, the Criterium de Saint-Cloud ended up with just three runners after the supplementary Ballet Slippers was withdrawn and though it could hardly have been looked further from a legitimate top-level contest at declaration time, the eventual winner Tennessee Stud had had the form of his previous second in the Beresford Stakes boosted the previous afternoon by his conqueror that day, Hotazhell, winning the William Hill Futurity at Doncaster. Even so, taking a long time to get the better of Zetland Stakes runner-up Green Storm with the outclassed Harvey hanging in there for longer than expected doesn’t convince me this is good form.

Harvey had been one of four rivals left toiling by an unchallenged and eased-down Maranoa Charlie over the same course and distance on his previous outing in the Prix Thomas Bryon and the hitherto unbeaten son of Wootton Bassett was sent off odds on to extend his sequence to four in the Criterium International over 1600m. Those who backed him would have expected to see him go clear early on as he had done in his two previous races but there’s a big difference between maintaining an efficient high cruising speed out in front and running yourself into the ground and no sooner than he turned into the short straight his ten-length advantage rapidly reduced to zero, eventually straggling home in a 87.6% finishing speed from 200m out.

Twain - come a long way in short space of time

Twain won the Criterium de Saint Cloud

Saint-Cloud is the one Parisian track where the tracking data is often misleading due to the rail often being out significantly which makes accurate standards and pars difficult to establish, but even a cautious analysis of his finishing effort suggests he’s worth upgrading by 24lb from 400m out relative to the winner Twain which if translated back across to the result would credit him with 108 compared to Twain’s 109, Mount Kilimanjaro’s 107 and Apples and Bananas’ 102.

Maranoa Charlie’s rider Alexis Pouchin said afterwards they wanted to let him run his race in the manner with which he had become familiar, but it would seem connections will have to instill a bit more self-discipline into him (he effectively reached the 400m marker a second and a half faster than he did in the Thomas Bryon) if he is to fulfil his potential.

Too much talk about Maranoa Charlie risks downgrading Twain’s effort and maybe we shouldn’t do that for all winning Group 1s at this fixture on just a second racecourse start isn’t uncommon – his stablemate Los Angeles did it in 2023 in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud while back in 2012 the Jim Bolger trained Loch Garman also managed it in this race just eight days after his debut as Twain did while another former Aidan O’Brien trained youngster Alberto Giacometti also won the Criterium de Saint-Cloud back in 2002 just nine days after his debut.

Los Angeles had a good career in 2024, of course, if failing to win the Group 1 over a mile and a quarter as a three-year-old that connections were seemingly so desperate for, but neither Alberto Giacometti nor Loch Garman won again in Europe and a 109 performance rating for Twain is as high as I’d be comfortable with for now.

The other Group 1, the Prix Royal Oak, went to Double Major for the second year in succession as he put his Prix du Cadran flop behind him, and he along with runner-up Sevenna’s Knight will be two more horses Alan King will be keen to avoid in future with his evergreen veteran Trueshan.

The day had started with an impressive win from Alcantor in the Prix Perth. Sent straight into the lead, Alcantor paced himself far more efficiently than Maranoa Charlie, reaching the 600m marker in 66.26 seconds compared to the 64.67 for the two-year-old, and he never looked in any danger in the straight, able to be eased down yet still having four lengths in hand of the British pair Sirona and Johan. Alcantor had been highly tried this season, running in both the French 2000 and the French Derby after which he had been off until running very well but ultimately too freely in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein on Arc weekend.

Still lightly raced, he promises to make up into a high-class miler much like his stable-companion Tribalist if kept in training as a four-year-old.

Sirona’s trainer David Menuisier might have been out of luck with Sirona but trained the first two home in the Prix Belle de Nuit with Entrancement and my fancy Panthera. The pair were separated by a short neck, but in reality the winner did well to overcome her stablemate getting first run in a steadily-run contest and in view of her pre-race profile deserves extra credit seeing as this test would have been a bare minimum for her.

The final Group race, the Prix de Flore, was almost entirely a domestic affair with just two raiders from Britain and Ireland, neither of whom featured, but the race couldn’t provide Jean Claude-Rouget with a winner with his final runner from his Deauville base with his Iznik finishing second to the well-supported winner Legend.

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