Just a reminder

... that there are important people in my life, as well as horses.
Like son Craig, partner Sheila and my 3 and a half year old twin grandaughters Mia (centre) and Alice.


As is so familiar in racing PORTO developed a minor muscle problem at the beginning of the week of his targeted race so no action today. He should be back in 3-4 weeks.

Querido ran a very good race in the Group 1 Prix d'Etoile last weekend, rating 1.13 (1.57.5) for the 2150m (walk-in start) in finishing fourth. This is one of the 4 'pursuit' classics in which the 3yos get 50m start from the 4 and 5yos. (Orlando ran in the monte equivalent 2 years ago, finishing fifth.) 50m is now a totally unrealistic handicap over 2150 m on the new Vincennes piste and with the new generation of 3yos. Only Olimede took on the youngsters this time and mile-rated 1.54.7 for fifth!.

SNOWBALL is rolling

A trip to Breteuil to celebrate Clara's second birthday in grand style (merci beaucoup Teresa!!) provided the opportunity to see MOONLIGHT's second foal (by Eclat de la Crau) for the first time in a year. Like ROSKO he's a big boy, even though just under 18 months old. He was in the cart for just the third time (great grandad Bernard in charge) and still being harnessed up with the help of the trailer used for the introductory sessions. Who knows what he will be... but his owner is proud of the first action photo (note all feet off ground!)
Of course we had to go racing... three hours to Laon near Reims, where Perle (like POLINA by Jasmine de Flore) ran a super race to finish second off 25m, driven perfectly by the promising David Marion Hue, father of the fore-mentioned Clara. David seems to be the only one to be able to get Perle to perform, so well done all round to him.
We really wanted PORTO to race at Laval on Tuesday to get him race-fit for the 20th, but he was eliminated, so expectations will need to be lowered. At Laval Prince Djo ran a very big race for third off 25m after very little work and has tremendous potential - if his head can be sorted.

Querido, Qualita and Offshore

Querido ran an excellent race in his last Group 2 before the Group 1 Prix d'Etoile on the 15th, without troubling the ones ahead of him. Rating 1.14.2 for the 2700 m (1.59.2 mile rate)
"Rapidement en bon rang en épaisseur, ce pensionnaire de Marion Hue s'est retrouvé à la pointe du combat dans la montée, se montrant courageux jusqu'au bout sans pouvoir rivaliser dans les deux cents derniers mètres avec les poulains ayant composé le jumelé gagnant."
Quatre Juillet was absent today, but Qualita Bourbon easily won the fillies equivalent for Love You.
Offshore Dream may not be favourite for the 27 January 2008 after being beaten by Ozio Royal (by Cezio Jocelyn, by Armbro Goal) in the Criterium des 5 Ans, rating 1.13.8 for 3000m. Occitane was a very impressive 4th but is also not quoted yet [The unibet site is at https://www.unibet.com/punter/index.jsp]

N.B. The Os will be 6 on January 1 and the Ps will be 5.

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.