Welcome back to Week Three of the French Racing Diary as the winter starts to bite and the flat action moves to the PSF.
Our weekly diary will take a look at some of the major stories in French Racing and include some light-hearted takes on what we’ve either seen or heard recently.
Coralie Pacault valuable for Rouget
With plenty of focus on Barzalona and Guyon in recent weeks, another flat jockey has been quietly going about her business – Coralie Pacault. She may not be setting the world alight with 40 winners to her name in 2021, but she isn’t riding all that often. Her 1.5kg claim in maidens looks particularly valuable and it’s not a surprise that she has a 25% strike rate for her boss Jean-Claude Rouget in the past 12 months.
Last week she partnered Al Hakeem and Yukata to success for Rouget and also scored on a 75-1 outsider in a handicap for Gina Rarick.
🏆 Al Hakeem and @CPacaut burned the sand today at Chantilly
Well done @AlShaqabRacing and Team Rouget 👏🏻
40th winners of the season for Coralie who's targeting the 2nd position in the girls standings 🎯@francegalop pic.twitter.com/4wMiGjoWA2— Thomas HUET (@huet60) November 27, 2021
Grand Glory’s ‘win’ in the Japan Cup
From Vichy to Tokyo, Grand Glory has had an outstanding season, perhaps saving the best until last. Her Japan Cup fifth yesterday was ‘as good as a win’ for connections and without some traffic problems, she might have even grabbed third. She heads to the Arqana sale next month along with another favourite of ours, Speak Of The Devil. Expect fireworks.
Yann Barberot back on the way up
Anyone betting in Saturday’s Classe 2 at Chantilly like me probably started their form study by striking a line through the two Yann Barberot runners. Barberot’s yard was on a losing run of 26, with several showing up poorly. Surely it would have been a tall order for his Royal Ascot contender Fast Raaj to return against Pimento and Coachello?
Fast Raaj bounced back with a bang and a further guide to the yard perhaps returning to form was provided through the runner-up Bouttemont, who travelled sweetly under top-weight and is a stablemate to Fast Raaj.
🏆 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐚𝐣 (@GregoryBenoist1) se rappelle à notre bon souvenir
Lauréat du Prix Djebel (Gr.3), le protégé de @Yannbarberot effectue une rentrée victorieuse dans le Prix de la Petite Singerie.
Il devance son compagnon d'entraînement Bouttemont. pic.twitter.com/ufyrzluoaT
— Equidia (@equidia) November 27, 2021
For sale: Overpriced juveniles
Has anyone noticed the inflated prices for juveniles at the moment? Hardly a surprise that nothing was claimed out of race 3 at Chantilly last Saturday…. Horses like Jolympa lined up rated 31 (UK equivalent of OR 68), with a claiming tag of €28,000 – and she also ran a blinder in fourth!
It could be worth keeping an eye on these races if anyone is connected to a British-trained juvenile rated over 70.
