D'Arcy ...

... very pleased with his apostrophe, which he acquired after I left Gerolstein but fully approve of.

LOVE YOUs in the flesh

LUCY DE GEROLSTEIN (rear) and DARCY DE GEROLSTEIN (front) present to us on 8 November 2008. NZ's premier breeding expert Frank Marrion joins me to cast an eye on the results of his promotion of the leading French stallion. Tres impressionant is the verdict.

PORTO has a fine re-entry

It was the perfect race for him ... until the draw came out and he was 8 on the gate. Over 2150 at Argentan that inevitably meant losing 20 meters by the end of the first turn to the leader from 4. DMH brought PORTO up to sit outside the leader for the last 1100 metres and he ran on very well for third, not helped by the 5 horse having his wheel inside David's for the last 100 meters, preventing him getting second. David copped an avertissement (warning) for saying he didn't agree with the comissaires' decision that this hadn't affected the result. (You have to agree with not merely accept apparently... must be unique in sport!) Anyway it was a very pleasing run and he probably heads for La Capelle on 11 November (2700 autostart). Methinks I will have already been racing that day in Christchurch because it is Cup Day.
A new website should be showing Porto's race by the 28th
http://www.lescourseshippiquesbassenormandie.com/Default.aspx
enter Argentan and scroll down to 26/10/2008. His is course 8
(Kurt's win with Rosy is race 2 at Domfront on their one raceday.)
Earlier I had climbed Le Mont de Baux de Breteuil to see PORTO being given some starting gate practice.

and Snowball getting some walking exercise. You haven't heard much about him but apparently there is some hope that he will get there by the spring.

David came en famille on Sunday and Clara was able to help in various ways through the day. PORTO is an exceptionally nice horse as well as a good one.

LUCY DE GEROLSTEIN - tres jolie!

Love You # 1 arrives down under

After some uncertainty about the sex we now know that we have a big filly by Love You from La Grande Duchesse by Sundon. Just look at that paper! Even got Johnny Globe (my favourite childhood pacer). Kurt had General Boum lined up as the name but thinks it might not be entirely appropriate!

SIERRA and SUPERBOWL

Off to Grosbois first thing Friday morning after watching Riposte run 4th at Enghien the previous evening. All four of the 2yos Marion, Bernard and David took qualified respectably, but not brilliantly, in the 1.20 to 1.21 km rate range (for 2000m) Of course everything was new to them and 3 false starts used up a lot of Sierra's energy. (Sierra top pic, Superbowl below). But the time has come to get the ecurie in hand (with Tina and Twilight coming into work any day!)and so all four were worked exactly the same way on Sunday. The fillies had progressed the best, so Sierra (along with Salima, the other Lutin Malin filly) will stay but Superbowl (along with Seul, the full brother to Querido) will go the sales at the end of the month. (Rosario with them.)
David reports that Porto is jumping out of his skin and that Orlando is trotting perfectly for the moment. No need to say that everything is crossed. (Nov 18 will hopefully be D day.)

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Every good horse deserves favour.. and a little rest! After 10 starts in 17 weeks and 45,300 euros in gains Porto will take it easy for a while before being got ready for a nice ALJ-AUTO race (2150m) at Argentan on October 26th. He should be on the front line having 76,420 in gains with a limit of 78,000. But it's a long way off and anything may happen (and often does in trotting!)
Attention switches to Sierra, who may be off to the qualifiers by the end of the month as the first of the stable 2yos.

PORTO en trombe - deuxieme

Another super race by Porto and DMH. As was very predictable drawing number 1 left him with the task of extracting himself and he only got clear with 100m to go but then flew home down the outside for second - en trombe (like a whirlwind) according to the ZE commentary and Paris-Turf. Robin had discovered the ZE site (Malta-based) which gives streaming text commentary of the above sort on selected non-PMU race meetings in France - and bets on them too (presumably at PMH odds). Porto's race is here, scroll down for the commentary. (click at top right to turn into French or German.)It may disappear at some point of course.
So Monday evening I can follow Marion's progress with Prince Djo at La Croise-Laroche(about 1745BST), even though it is not a PMU meeting.. and bet if I were to set up an account with ZE (3rd favourite according to ZE experts). Better not.... But isn't it time the PMU allowed people to do this?

A Big Day in the family

Twin grand-daughters Alice and Mia setting off to School on their first day... unaware and unconcerned (thank goodness) that Porto has drawn 1 at Amiens on Saturday evening

Porto again.. avec brio! and avec moi!

Same track as last week (it's a few kms from the Mont St Michel) but a very different race. Again for Apprentis-Lad Jockeys but Porto was now off 25m with a tape (elastique) start, in which he hasn't always been smartly away. So I didn't fancy the 3 to 1 on offer (compared with 9 last week) but the team were surprisingly optimistic even though the track was slush after heavy and continuing rain (reflected in the times on the day). The 3s looked very short when DMH couldn't get him near the front quickly (even though he went away well this time) and even shorter (to me) when he pulled out from the rear and came 3 wide down the home straight with a round to go. But Porto stayed out there round the turn... stayed out there down the back... stayed out there through the final turn putting the two inside leaders under increasing pressure... and actually came away in the straight to win by about 4 lengths - with brio according to Paris-Turf and without having a hard race, which is in many ways the best news of all. David said afterwards that the going was actually better 3 wide on this heavily cambered track, which was why he went there. So I finally got to see Porto win and break the curse I was starting think I had on my horses. It was a landmark for DMH being his 10th win in the sulky. He can now drive in many more races, including ones for 2yos. Many congratulations, David, especially on getting out of sick bed to triumph.

Next outing for Porto will probably be 6 September at Amiens... autostart, but this time it's an ordinary race so David will be up against mainly Professionels (50 or more wins). The draw will be crucial.

All in all a super visit (exquisite rabbit Teresa!) during which Marion worked SUPERBOWL in the forest and SIERRA on the track. Both continue to promise but patientez is the word with growing 2yos.