On Listed Prix de la Porte de Madrid winner Karlarina

It was her first run of the season and I thought it was a special performance.  She is at her best on heavy ground, but it wasn’t that bad at Saint-Cloud last week and on top of that, she was dropping in trip from two miles to a mile and a half.  I’m sure she is better over the longer distance, so to win on her first start of the season, it really was an exciting performance from a very talented filly.

Where she goes next is difficult to know, as I feel she is quite ground-dependent and we will have to wait for her to get her conditions this season.  There is a good programme of staying races, but we’ll have to wait and see what the weather does.

On his first two year old winner of the year, Vanille Bleue

Jane Soubagné is very good with her two year olds and she had Vanille Bleue really well prepared for her debut at Saint-Cloud.  I hadn’t heard too much beforehand, as it was only a claimer, but she showed a lot of speed and I thought it was quite a useful performance for an early two year old.  It wasn’t a surprise that there was plenty of interest in her afterwards!

On Listed-placed pair Cash Equity and Sotoro

I was delighted with Cash Equity.  He is a big, long-striding horse, is going the right way and I’m sure he can take another step forwards from this reappearance second.  He wasn’t able to get to the front at Saint-Cloud, but I think he is a natural pacemaker (he made all the running to win on debut at Saint-Malo last year) and has plenty more to offer this year.

It was great to get black type for Sotoro, particularly as the favourite (Urgent Appeal) set a very good level and it looked competitive. He has the right attributes for the All-Weather at Chantilly, was able to get to the front and showed a really gutsy attitude once headed to keep on for third.

Race Sharp Note: Cash Equity is entered in the Group 3 Prix Noailles at Longchamp on 11th April.  Sotoro is entered in the Group 3 Prix Djebel at Deauville on 8th April.

On the French runners in Dubai

It was fantastic to see Deryan win the Group 1 Dubai Kahayla Classic (for Purebred Arabians) for trainer Didier Guillemin and Ioritz Mendizabal, while Magny Cours ran a fantastic race in defeat to finish third in the Dubai World Cup for Andre Fabre.  It was also great to see Mickaelle Michel claim second place on Walderbe in the Dubai Gold Cup.