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Weekly Round-Up of French Racing and Trotting - 21st December 2021.
With the Vincennes Winter Meeting in full swing, the Pairs trotting venue hosted mutiple Group races over the past week alongside Deauville…
Flat
| Date | Thursday 16 December 2021 |
| Venue | Deauville AW (Standard) |
| Race | R6 – Listed Prix Arcangues (2500m) |
| Type | For three-year-olds and above |
| Winner | The Way of Bonnie |
| Jockey | Vaclav Janacek |
| Trainer | Guillermo Arizkorreta Elosegui |
| Breeding | Thewayyouare x Eyrecourt |
| Second | Coeur Macen |
| Third | Sleeping Lion |
| Spanish raider, The Way of Bonnie returned to France with success after enjoying a consistent 2021 with mutiple victories at San Sebastián and Madrid. The six-year-old was settled in midfield throughout and had a smooth run through on the inside for a short-head triumph. | |
| Date | Monday 20 December |
| Venue | Deauville AW (standard) |
| Race | R7 – Listed Prix Miss Satamixa (1500m) |
| Type | For three-year-old fillies and above |
| Winner | Pennybaker |
| Jockey/Driver | Mickaël Barzalona |
| Trainer | Henri-Alex Pantall |
| Breeding | Medaglia d'Oroxt Macaroon |
| Second | Pevensey Bay |
| Third | Angelissima |
| The Godolphin owned Pennybaker remained unbeaten on the all-weather to make it four wins on the surface when catching the eye showing a great level of acceleration in the home straight to be a classy winner of the feature on the day to gain Black type status. This was the final leg of Mickaël Barzalona's treble on the programme. | |
Trotting
| Date | Wednesday 15 December 2021 |
| Venue | Vincennes |
| Race | R6 – G3 Prix Auguste François (2175m) |
| Type | Mounted walk up for six- to ten-year-olds |
| Winner | Florida Sport |
| Driver | Mathieu Mottier |
| Trainer | Charles-Antoine Mary |
| Breeding | Tornado Bello x Victoria Sport |
| Second | Diamant de Tréabat |
| Third | Freeman de Houelle |
| At the second attempt of staging the race, Florida Sport took the feature race last Wednesday beating the well supported, Freeman de Houelle. The six-year-old mare ran close to the pace throughout and travelled well looking ready to sweep past the leader at any stage. Mathieu Mottier delivered his challenge as they entered the home straight and the mare powered clear in game style. | |
| Date | Saturday 18 December 2021 |
| Venue | Vincennes |
| Race | R7 – G3 Prix Oscar Collard (2100m) |
| Type | Driven autostart for four- and five-year-olds only |
| Winner | Always Ek |
| Jockey/Driver | Eric Raffin |
| Trainer | Alessandro Gocciadoro |
| Breeding | Filipp Roc x Nike Ek |
| Second | Armour As |
| Third | Tabasco C.D. |
| Always Ek bounced back to winning ways under the floodlights to record a 15th career success in good style. The five-year-old has been in solid form in recent outings with wins also coming from Rome and Modène in recent months. | |
| Date | Sunday 19 December 2021 |
| Venue | Vincennes |
| Race | R7 – G3 Prix Jean Dumouch (2850m) |
| Type | Driven walk up for five- to ten-year-olds |
| Winner | Elie de Beaufour |
| Jockey/Driver | Jean-Michel Bazire |
| Trainer | Jean-Michel Bazire |
| Breeding | Royal Dream x Pignata |
| Second | Feliciano |
| Third | Ce Bello Romain |
| The consistent and high class seven-year-old, Elie de Beaufour showed his best form when keeping rivals at bay for a 23rd career win and another Group success for this popular horse who was sent off favourite. Jean-Michel Bazire travelled strongly and looked comfortable for most of the race which allowed the win to defeat some high class performers. | |
