3 minute read

The Stats Guide: Prix de l'Etoile.

The G1 Prix de l'Étoile (2200m) nicknamed the "Star Award" is one of two feature races this weekend at Vincennes. The race is restricted to three, four and five-year-olds, excluding geldings. 

The event holds a rich history with top-class horses taking victory including the likes of Ourasi (1985), Davidson du Pont (2018) and Face Time Bourbon, only twelve months ago.

The first renewal of the Prix de l'Etoile was conducted in 1943 and took place during the Vincennes Winter Meeting. It was designed and is unique in its test of speed, ability to compare the different age generations as the three-year-olds receive a head-start advantage of 50 metres. However, their elder rivals do have the opportunity to run barefoot which can make a notable difference. Today's distance on the large track of 2200m has been in place since 2005. 

With the three-year-old 50 metre advantage which makes this race unique – it does mean the emphasis of the race is on speed, therefore timings and records are often broken. In the last two renewals, both Feliciano (2019 with a 1"10"2) and Face Time Bourbon (2020 with a 1"09"4) have shaved the times of 2200m distance at Vincennes. Last year, the Sebastien Guarato trained then five-year-old equalled his own Vincennes record and holds the current best time in the contest.

Looking back since the turn of the century, the three-year-old advantage is clearly the key, with seventeen out of the twenty-one running's since 2000 going to three-year-olds. 

This year looks like a similar story with 2/3 of entries and acceptances being aged in the younger category (eight out of twelve at three [as at Thursday morning].

We look at the line-up for the 2021 renewal and investigate their career history, course record, 2021 profile and much more.