PRIX D'AMERIQUE ODDS

No, not offered by the PMU of course which really should be following the NZ TAB fixed odds example, rather than hoping the bookies will be beaten in Brussels. Anyway here are those offered by Unibet at the moment.

PORTO's best time

PORTO needs regular racing so he went in at the deep end today (Monday 27th) with gains of 31,000 in a race open to horses that had won up to 75,000. Though only 9th and showing he needed a race in the last 100m he ran the fastest he has ever done with a kilometer rate of 1.15.3 - mile rate of 2.01.2 - over 2700m (tape start). There is a good race for him on the 20th. As a matter of interest Pride of Petite holds the New Zealand record for 2700 meters from a standing start at a km rate of 1.15.8. Fraggle Rock holds the mobile start record at a rate of ... 1.15.3! Of course the grand piste at Vincennes is 2000m round and it's a very fast track, but it also has a testing descent and rise.

Love You

As readers of Kurt's blog will know I convinced him frozen semen from top stallion Love You at under 4,000 euros, compared with his French fee of 15,000, is a real bargain and so Gwen and Duchess will be off for this unexciting experience shortly. But it was only fair that I take 50% of the bet, so that's the deal. It looked good today when his progeny won the two 3yo semi-classiques at Vincennes ,Qualita Bourbon the fillies and Quatre Juillet the colts, both Jean-Pierre Dubois naturally . However the latter would not have won if the runner-up had been able to get clear in the straight. Who was it ? None other than Querido des Baux, driven by Jean-Michel Bazire. He's clearly going to be a real threat at the top! Here are the Paris Turf reports.

un parcours sans incident svp

PORTO was lucky insofar as he was the eighth most monied horse in the race and was therefore on the gate (as opposed to second line). Even more lucky he drew 5, But he wasn't able to leave quite fast enough to avoid being three wide round the first bend and Marion had to use him to get to the front. Not keen to stay there, he was overtaken, but by a 'bad' horse and so got progressively shuffled back on the inside down the back. Round the final turn and into the straight he was blocked and unable to get out for about 200 metres. Then as usual he finished very well - fifth, promoted to fourth after a disqualification ahead of him. So he continues to race super and all we need for is a race where he can make his sustained 700 metre finish from near the front...un parcours sans incident s'il vous plait

PORTO 's excellent run

Fifth doesn't seem excellent but it was a super run after a start handicapped by a hooked sulky and a not ideal journey round the last bend. This time Marion simply left him to do his bestin the long Enghien straight and he finished best of all down the outside. Very pleasing... especially in 37 degrees!

Homage in Paris-Turf

Finally back to a scanner with hard copy of the Paris-Turf on July 8 where Marion dedicated the victory of Querido to Hilary and me. Merci bien Marion!
(Interesting mistake in the caption!)

The young ones

The two new filly foals are looking well, as you can see. Both are by Ideal de l'Iton and look a lot like him. TINA is of course a full sister to Orlando!
TWILIGHT (out of Moonlight) is big and sturdy. But the most impressive at the moment is the yearling SIERRA, Festina's filly by Lutin Malin. (Originally intended to be SKY but that didn't happen for some reason.) SNOWBALL (Moonlight's colt by Eclat de la Crau) was out of reach on this visit.) The two year olds ROSKO and ROSA are starting to work towards qualification by the end of the year. So lots to look forward to... but in a different world from a few weeks ago.