2013

ANDRÉ Fabre and Olivier Peslier, two of the world’s most talented racing professionals, won the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly last Sunday with Intello.

Like the previous day’s Epsom Derby winner, Intello is a son of Galileo. Too often the French Derby has resembled a stock-car race since being shortened in distance to 10 and a half furlongs but thankfully the 2013 edition was sublime and there is no question but that the best horse won. Intello had been an unlucky loser in the Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) and was sent off the clear favourite in a 19-horse field at Chantilly.

Always prominent, Peslier’s mount took up the running under two furlongs out and stayed on strongly to win by two lengths from Morandi, Sky Hunter, Mshawish, Shikarpour and the English-trained Willie The Whipper. It was the second time that Fabre and Peslier combined to win the Jockey Club, as they were associated with Peintre Celebre in 1997. Fabre most recently won the classic with Lope De Vega in 2010.

As usual, Fabre said very little publicly after the race, but it is believed that he is considering dropping the Wertheimer-owned colt back to a mile for the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville in August. The alternative would be to wait for the Prix Niel and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the autumn. As the Wertheimers won the Arc last year with Solemia, there must be a temptation to go for back-to-back wins in Europe’s richest race.

Peslier was back on Intello here after discarding him in favour of Goldikova’s brother Anodin in the Poulains. He explained: “Intello (drawn 17 of 18 at Longchamp) is an easy ride but Anodin is more difficult so, for the sake of the owners, I rode Anodin.” Of last Sunday’s race Peslier added: “Intello was going very well entering the straight and he easily repelled all attacks. The only Group 1 race I have left to win in France is the Prix de Diane.”

Jean-Claude Rouget was delighted with runner-up Morandi, the Holy Roman Emperor colt who landed the Group 1 Criterium International last November. He is another who could develop into a leading Prix de l’Arc contender. Maxime Guyon gave Godolphin’s Sky Hunter (also trained by Fabre) every possible chance, and racing manager Simon Crisford commented: “He ran exactly as André said he would. The colt is progressive and should have a good second half to the season.”

[Intello was placed later in the season in both the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois, to Moonlight Cloud, and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to Treve.

Now standing at Haras de Beaumont, where his fee this year is €8,000, his best winners to date include the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes winner Adhamo and the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat winner, as well as many other group and listed winners]

Second French Derby for O’Briens

1983

BETWEEN 1836 and 1981, no foreign-trained horse had won the Prix du Jockey Club, French Derby, but now the O’Brien family has dominated the event for the past two years.

Twelve months ago, David O’Brian trained Assert to win the French classic, and last Sunday his father, Vincent, was responsible for Caerleon, who won by three lengths. Both colts carried the colours of Robert Sangster, who shares the ownership of the colts with several other people.

Caerleon’s emphatic victory only goes to show what a change of weather can do for certain horses. Always highly considered by his stable, the colt found conditions at Chantilly on Sunday to be the driest so far this season in France. Four days of sunshine had made the Chantilly track into one which in no way could be faulted.

Pat Eddery had a dream ride on Caerleon, and the race was virtually over once the pair accelerated away from their rivals, two furlongs from the winning post.

Cancellation

In spite of the late cancellation of the Irish air traffic control strike, Vincent O’Brien was unable to make the journey to France, but he had no need to worry as Tommy Burns was in full charge of the situation. He telephoned his guv’nor after the famous victory, and the resulting conversation means that Caerleon will now either go for the Irish Sweeps Derby on June 25th or the Coral Eclipse Stakes.

If Caerleon had not been coupled with L’Emigrant and Peletry in the win betting pool, Stavros Niarchos and his family having interests in all three horses, the colt would have started at the amazing odds of 28/1.

[Caerleon was bred by Seth Hancock at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, and was a son of the Triple Crown winner Nijinsky. He was purchased as a yearling at Keeneland and won both his starts at two, a maiden and the Anglesey Stakes. After his classic win in France, he was runner-up to Shareef Dancer in the Irish Derby and won the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup at York. Retired to stud at Coolmore for the 1984 season, he was twice leading sire, in 1988 and again in 1991. Among his Group 1 winners at stud were Caerwent (National Stakes), Cape Verdi (1000 Guineas), Kostroma, Lady Carla (Oaks), Missionary Ridge, Generous (Derby and Irish Derby), Only Royale, Moonax (St Leger), Grape Tree Road, Marienbard (Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe), Warrsan and Preseli.

Caerleon died at age of 18 in February 1998]

Maiden wins Oaks in style

1983

SUN Princess turned the Oaks into a procession at Epsom on Sunday.

It was her first victory in a brief career that had previously spanned just two races, but there was no sign of inexperience as she swept past the field on the run down Tattenham Hill, and she turned for home already building up a massive lead. She surged past the winning post 12 lengths clear of Acclimatise.

So, Sun Princess became the first maiden to win an English classic since Asmena in the Oaks back in 1950. However, it would be fair to point out that in normal circumstances Sun Princess would have won a race long before Saturday. Last year she showed a lot of promise and speed at home, but she also proved exceptionally headstrong and took a long time before she started to learn to settle.

Sun Princess finished second in her only race as a two-year-old, and she was second again at Newbury on her only other run in public, on going better suited to Newton Abbot in December! When it became clear that the ground was not going to dry up in time, the decision was taken to send her straight to the Oaks.

“It has been the most impossible spring for trainers,” pointed out winning owner Lord Weinstock. “The ground has been so bad that we could not find a race for her, but we were happy for Dick Hern to train her at home, as he’s quite capable of winning a classic that way.”

[A daughter of English Prince, bred and raised at Ballymacoll Stud, Sun Princess won twice more, capturing the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and the Group 1 St Leger, before running second in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Peter Reynolds described Sun Princess as “a most wonderful character, and a very easy mare to deal with. She was a real lady,” following her death in 2001. Among her offspring were the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes winner Prince Of Dance (Sadler’s Wells) and his own-sister Ballet Queen, the dam of the Japanese Derby winner Fusaichi Concorde, a son of Caerleon]

Morgan at centre of controversy

1983

CONTROVERSY followed the result of the Dungarvan Flat Race at Tramore on Tuesday, in which the Seamus McGrath-trained Tara Lee was an easy winner.

The trouble began when Joanna Morgan, Tara Lee’s jockey, returned to scales and weighed in at 9st 11lb, instead of the correct weight of 10st. A belated stewards’ inquiry was called, and disqualification looked odds-on.

While the inquiry was in progress, the clerk of the scales discovered that the balance arm of the scales had been moved.

He immediately reported this to the stewards, who were of the opinion that the clerk had misread the weight because of the discrepancy, and allowed the result to stand.

The stewards, in a written report later in the evening, said the clerk of the scales had told them that the balancing arm had been moved, and the scales was reading three pounds wrong.

All very well, but if it’s wrong for one, surely it would have been wrong for all the jockeys. Yet those who weighed in before and after Joanna had their correct weight. It all appears more than strange, and I think we have not heard the end of it yet.