Go Athletico goes on strong with pattern success
THREE geldings of differing vintages were the stars of the Group 3 races on the Moulin undercard.
The Appleby-trained odds-on favourite, Naval Crown, could manage no better than third in the Prix La Rochette over seven furlongs for juveniles as Go Athletico notched an initial pattern success for his first-season sire, Goken.
Winning trainer Phillipe Decouz, who is based near Lyon, may be forced to drop him back in distance for the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte because geldings are ineligible for most Group 1 alternatives.
As a four-year-old, gelding status will be less of a handicap to Glycon, winner of La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte over a mile and two furlongs, and this Jean-Claude Rouget-trained son of Le Havre and the twice classic-placed mare Glorious Sight, could go to the very top.
Held up for his trademark late burst, he got up by a short neck to the delight of his air-punching jockey, Christian Demuro, emotional following the death of his father just a few hours earlier.
Now on course for October 3rd’s Prix Dollar, Glycon is open of further improvement given that he only visited a racecourse for the first time 11 months ago.
Compared to Glycon’s five career starts, the six-year-old Henrythenavigator gelding Called To The Bar is a veteran of 21 outings and he registered his eighth victory when landing the mile, seven-furlong and 110-yard Prix Gladiateur for the third year in a row.
Jockey Maxime Guyon barely had an anxious moment en route to a comfortable length-and-a-quarter success and trainer Pia Brandt reported: “Longchamp is his favourite track and everything was perfect for him today, including the trip and the ground.
“We don’t think that he stays beyond two miles, so unfortunately that rules out the Prix du Cadran, but, provided we don’t get too much rain, we will keep him on the go until the end of October and come back here for the Prix Royal-Oak.”
THE cream of the French two-year-old crop has begun to hold its own a bit better against foreign invaders over the past few weeks and, three days before Go Athletico’s triumph, Christophe Ferland’s Frankel filly, Kalahara, clocked a rapid time while holding off the Wesley Ward-trained American raider, Wink, in the five- Group 3 Prix d’Arenberg.