Timeform's Graeme North brings us his weekly look at the French racing scene.
Sunday preview: Gala the one in French Oaks
Chantilly hosts the fourth classic of the season in France, the Prix de Diane, the French Oaks, on Sunday.
What a humdinger of a race it is (15.05) bringing together the Oaks runner-up Dance Sequence, the unlucky 1000 Guineas fourth Tamfana, the highly-impressive French Derby day winner Aventure as well as the filly who beat her the time before in the listed Prix de La Seine at Longchamp, Gala Real.
Tamfana is the early favourite in the Paddy Power betting ahead of Dance Sequence with the progressive Candala heading off Gala Real and Aventure for third spot and it’s not hard to understand why Tamfana should be favourite.
She’s already beaten Dance Sequence once this season, in the 1000 Guineas, and though Dance Sequence took her form to a new level when second in the Oaks over a four-furlong longer trip this quick turnaround after what looked a very hard race in the teeth of a strong pace at Epsom may not turn to have been the best preparation.
Opinion was split over whether Tamafana would have won the 1000 with better luck in running (or whether the runner-up Ramatuelle who kicked for home over three furlongs out was really the best horse on the day) but win or lose that form sets a good standard and she’s well berthed in stall three with Oisin Murphy, who rode her at Deauville two starts ago, back on board.
Tamfana isn’t a certain stayer on breeding, however much her run style says she will stay, unlike the other market principals among whom Candala has fared badly with the draw in 12 while Aventure (whose overall time and finishing sectionals compared favourably with those posted by the Group 1 class Junko on the same card) hasn’t fared much better in 10 and another horse I gave a good write-up to after the French 1000 Guineas, Rock’N Swing, has fared even worse in 13.
On the contrary, Gala Real has drawn stall one and a look at the sectionals for the Prix de la Seine suggests she has a major chance. That day she was, like Aventure, dropped right out in a race where the finishing speed came in at a hefty 116% but after looking as if she’d let Aventure get away on the rail she ended up swooping late so earning a 4lb bigger upgrade over the last 400m and 8lb over the last 200m.
Quicker ground than she has encountered in her last three wins is an unknown but given Aventure had her official rating raised to just 1lb shy of Tamfana’s after her French Derby day rout then Gala Real must have a clear chance.
Rest of Chantilly
As I’ve written before, the British-trained juveniles have so far looked a level above those in France and some horses will be running at Ascot next week who would have been better off running in the G3 Prix du Bois, the opening pattern race on the card (13.05).
Karl Burke has sent over York winner Arabie and he looks the one to beat. Daylight won well on his only start so far despite hanging badly left and looking very green, and he might end up edging out Ciaran who looked much more professional last time than when beaten by the re-opposing Fly Half on his debut as the best of the home defence.
Saganti heads the official ratings (among those who have them) in the 2400m G2 Prix du Lys (14.20) but he hasn’t been at his best in two runs this season and looks there for the taking again despite the further step up in trip.
Trafalgar Square isn’t far behind him on ratings - just 2lb - and already has a listed win at this trip to his name this season but there are a couple of lurkers in there in the shape of Delius and Coetzee. The former is unbeaten in two runs but took an age to hit top speed last time which can’t be said of Coetzee who was impressive when winning a maiden at Saint-Cloud last time, looking to have learned a lot from his debut, last into the short straight but passing all of his rivals quickly before drawing clear. By Frankel out of the Nell Gwyn runner-up Sing Softly he’d probably have a Timeform large P if he was running in Britain so is worth keeping onside as the season goes on.
The G3 Prix Bertrand du Breuil at (17.00) looks a two-horse race on the face of things with 2023 French 2000 Guineas winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi holding a small edge over Fast Raaj on official ratings but less likely to be suited by a tactical affair with the latter having strong form at seven furlongs.
The other ‘quality’ race on the Chantilly card is the listed Prix Pawneese (15.50) over 2400m for fillies and mares and has attracted a filly I’ve written about before and will surely win a race of this calibre or better before too long, Quisisana.
Twice a winner at Compiegne last season, she finished third behind the re-opposing Ottery in similar grade on her reappearance and then fifth (when the re-opposing Tygress finished fourth, Ottery was sixth) behind the smart American Sonja in the well-contested Group 3 Prix Allez France last time but ran the fastest last 600m on the first occasion and then got caught flat-footed last time by the winner’s kick before staying on well.
The step up to 2400m for the first time will surely suit the fluent-moving Quisisana and the booking for the first time of champion jockey Maxime Guyon is a further plus.
Longchamp retrospective: Zarir one to follow
Last Sunday’s meeting at ParisLongchamp was a more interesting one than any of the fixtures that took place in Britain or Ireland over the same weekend with the feature race, the G3 La Coupe, of plenty of interest seeing as it saw the belated reappearance after an injury-curtailed 2023 of Al Hakeem who the previous season had finished fourth in Prix du Jockey-Club as well as the Arc.
Al Hakeem might not have made a winning return – he finished second - but I suspect connections will have been more than satisfied with this run. The Coupe was run at a steady gallop - the finishing speed of the winner Calif over the last 400m came in at 109.9%, while Al Hakeem recorded 111.2% and Zarir back in third managed an even higher 112.5% - and as those finishing speeds might suggest, Calif got first run on the two market principals who were held up too far back.
Calif’s win might have taken the French punters (who sent Zarir off as favourite) by surprise but he’d only been beaten four lengths or so by the crack French five-year-old and Queen Anne hope Facteur Cheval in the 1800m G1 Dubai Turf on his previous outing and, crucially, had a couple of pieces of form to his name in Germany in 2023 in Group races over 1600m that were comparable to the level he appeared to run to here.
That Group-winning speed for shorter distances allied to a smart ride, kicking on swinging into the straight and establishing a two-length lead that he never looked like relinquishing, was what won Calif the race, and viewed in that unfavourable scenario, Al Hakeem and Zarir did remarkably well given neither have ever looked in a race that turned so heavily on speed.
Al Hakeem ran both the last 200m and the penultimate 200m faster Calif though wasn’t making any impression close home as lack of a recent run told, but Zarir ran them both even faster still and emerges with a 7lb better upgrade than the winner by my calculations with Al Hakeem getting 4lb.
Of the three, Zarir still looks to me to have the best prospects of increasing his 119 Timeform rating. He’s developed into a very powerful-looking horse who looked imperious earlier on this year in staying races on the polytrack at Chantilly once he'd found his stride and though he’s clearly good enough to win something at a good level at around 2000m - after all, he was just touched off in the 2100m Prix Ganay on his previous start – he looks to be crying out for a return to at least 2400m, ideally on the back of a decent gallop. Indeed, the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud at the end of the month over just that trip on a galloping track looks just up his street.
The other Group 3 on the card, the Prix Paul de Moussac over 1400m, didn’t quite see the shoot-out expected between the favourite Lazzat and the recent Prix Sigy winner Sajir but the former showed a different side to his character, digging deep on faster ground than he had encountered previously (no mean feat for a son of Territories) to extend his unbeaten sequence to five at the expense of the Havana Cigar by the narrowest of margins.
The race was well run thanks to the presence of Lazzat’s stable companion Lazym and Lazzat’s finishing speed came in at 102.4% from 400m out compared to 104.4% for the runner-up and 102.9% for Sajir back in third.
Those finishing speeds convert to upgrades of 4lb, 1lb and 3lb by my estimation and tend to confirm that for all he looked a bit unlucky in having to wait for a run, Havana Cigar was probably at an advantage buried in the pack while Lazzat and Sajir were battling it out in the teeth of the pace up front. The form doesn’t look exceptional, however, and Lazzat looked to me as if he would be happier given a bit more of a test.
The 1300m trip of the Prix Maurice de Gheest looks like it might be on the short side for him; but though Sajir would be happier back at that trip or even shorter, he didn’t convince here he’s a Group 1 sprinter in the making.
The opening listed race, the Prix Ridgway, was won by Hamavi who got the better of Wathnan’s Soldier’s Gold and Casapueblo who had the highest pre-race official rating and ended up being sent off favourite only to have the shortcomings exposed in the falsely-run Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud on his previous start highlighted again.
Much like La Coupe, the race turned into a test of speed rather than stamina with the winner’s finishing speed just about surpassing 110% and there was little doubt he was the rightful winner even if he did make hard work of it. He’s probably not as good as his previous second to subsequent French Derby winner Look De Vega makes him seem on paper but he’s worth upgrading by 3lb over the pair who followed him home here and given how he workmanlike he looked, a stronger pace or slower ground would surely have helped him more.
All the same, a 22.61 last 400m compares favourably with the 22.58 recorded by Calif on the back of a winning time that was just half a second slower and we’ll be hearing more of him I’m sure.
The equivalent contest for fillies was won fairly and squarely by Rose Jaipur who on her previous start had won a handicap off a corresponding BHA mark of 96. She’s clearly improving at a rate of knots, and a final 400m time of 22.55 was faster than either Calif or Hamavi managed, albeit off the back of a slower gallop (winning time around 1.3 seconds slower than Calif).
With the Prix Saint-Alary runner-up Almara looking a bit inconvenienced by the faster ground and Some Skye failing to settle under a very contrasting ride to the one she has been given the time before, this form doesn’t look the most solid but I wouldn’t rule out improvement from Some Syke dropped back to 1600m before long.
Another filly fresh out of handicaps, Les Reys, won the other listed contest, the Prix Volterra over 1600m, in her case defying an official mark of 95. A sub 22 second last 400m wasn’t quite as fast as Havana Cigar in the Paul de Moussac but it was easily the fastest in the race and she’s probably another 6lb or 7lb better than the runner-up than this makes her look. British raider Rochelle ran easily the slowest last 200m of the first seven to finish and a swift return to seven furlongs looks on the cards.
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