I’m hoping Eddy Hardouin will be amongst the winners at Lyon Parilly this afternoon, as I’m backing two of his mounts, starting with Street Rebel in the 6.5f handicap for three year olds (3.10pm).
Trained by Hardouin’s partner Carina Fey, Street Rebel was green and outpaced on debut over 5.5f on his sole start at two, before taking a nice step forwards when fourth at Strasbourg over 7f in mid-April. He travelled sweetly that day and though his finishing effort levelled out once in the clear, that was understandable given it was his first run for a year. He was never in the mix at Dieppe last time, but the drop back to 5.5f would’ve been against him, he raced on the wing and was not knocked about.
His opening mark of 29 looks fair on that Strasbourg form – the fifth home that day, 2.5L behind Street Rebel, won on his second start in handicaps off 27.5, while the third home finished fourth in a Longchamp maiden next time.
Out of a four-time winner at around this trip, he should be spot on for this, three weeks on from his latest run, and it is encouraging to note that the yard have won with two of their last three runners.
3.10pm Lyon Parilly – 1pt win Street Rebel @ 16-1 (all firms)
In the concluding handicap on the card (5.30pm), I’m surprised to see Brouains quite as big as he is in the market and he is well worth chancing at double-figure odds.
The six year old has been limited to just nine career starts, winning a claimer for Didier Guillemin back in 2018, and finishing second in a claimer over hurdles in September 2019, after which he was claimed to join this yard.
That’s the last time he was sighted until reappearing over this course and distance in mid-May this year, when making a winning return to the track despite the mammoth absence.
The third and fifth both won handicaps next time, while the sixth won a conditions race two starts later, so the form certainly worked out.
He’ll face different ground conditions today and it is the second start back from a long absence, but he has been given plenty of time to recover and the yard is ticking over well enough.
5.30pm Lyon Parilly – 1pt win Brouains @ 14-1 (all firms)
Just a couple to follow in the maidens, though I won’t be backing them today. Il Ministro ran a little better than the form suggests on debut and it will be interesting to see if he can take a step forwards today (1.25pm). His trainer Gianluca Bietolini runs plenty in tongue-ties, so I wouldn’t read much into that going on today (or the cheekpieces, which are also used on several of his runners early in their careers). A half-brother to a black-type performer for this yard, he could outrun his odds (currently around 14s).
I’m also interested to see how Dounia fares today (2.35pm). She is very unlikely to improve enough to reverse her debut form with Sansa Bay, but she did finish off her race well, her trainer Gavin Hernon thinks a bit of her and she has a wonderful pedigree, with a stack of siblings rated 90+.