Last week was dominated by trotting, though there was still plenty of action on the flat and over jumps to get stuck into. Christophe Ferland has his team ticking over nicely as he notched two wins from six runners and the Listed Prix Camille Duboscq is something to look forward to at Pau this week.
A vendre
The French claiming market has suffered from a change in rules, giving owners less in the transaction, but one trainer who has not been shy about running his in the selling grade is Yann Barberot.
€200,000 No Nay Never yearling Just A Perfect Day was a winner of a modest Pornichet claimer last week with a crazy tag of €14,000. He can surely make his mark in handicaps (provided the wheels don’t fall off…) and this looks a well-orchestrated buy for a syndicate including journalist Gilles Barbarin.
Reliable handicapper Goya Senora is another to depart Barberot’s stable last week. Winner of €220,000 in prizemoney and premiums, the six-year-old fetched €28k at Deauville and is an exciting purchase for that sum. Batwan rewarded his new connections with a win at Meydan last week but Goya Senora’s immediate future is likely to be in Quinté handicaps in France.
Spanish flair
Spanish racing is having a great time of it recently, in particular with the performances of Cold Front (remember him?) in Saudi Arabia and young rider Victoria Alonso, who is winning plenty in both France and Spain at the moment.
The next one to watch is the former Joseph O’Brien sprint star, Speak In Colours, who made a winning debut in Andalucia this month. Despite his stallion credentials, he made 22,000 gns at Tattersalls HIT last year and it’s plausible he could be seen in stakes company later this year in France for the Oscar Anaya team.
🏁FINAL de la 3️⃣ Carrera – PREMIO ASOC. SOLIDARIA DE PROYECTOS SOLIDARIOS ACAYE (D)
🥇🏇Victoria para SPEAK IN COLOURS (4)
Enhorabuena al jinete @DiegSarabia , al preparador @OscarAn10669190 y a la cuadra RIO CUBAS#TurfHipódromo2H #CarrerasDeCaballos pic.twitter.com/56ppi0zo1E
— Gran Hipódromo de Andalucía – Dos Hermanas (@GranHipodromo2H) January 16, 2022
Schooling
Andre Fabre was the trainer who lent the largest number of horses for AFASEC schooling races last year – clearly seeing merit in the event for both returning horses to form and developing budding riders.
Magny Cours repeated the dose, scoring by several lengths at Chantilly. Stablemate Mond was in behind and has been recently gelded.
Belle victoire pour Adrian Le Lay Martin qui remporte ce matin la course école Prix de l'Association des Entraîneurs de Galop sur Magny Cours (A Fabre) à l'hippodrome @fgchantilly .
Bravo à tous et merci à @AEDG_fr et aux entraîneurs.
📷@AprhChantilly
@assojockeys @francegalop pic.twitter.com/cIip8cR040— Ecole des Courses Hippiques (@EcoleAFASEC) January 28, 2022
Magny Cours is best at 16-1 for the Dubai World Cup with Sky Bet.
