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News In Brief of French Racing and Trotting - 19th May 2022.
Flat racing and trotting are the headlines in this week's News In Brief which includes Australian champion race mare Verry Elleegant, trotting driver Matthieu Abrivard and the latest round of the Trophée Vert series.
Flat
Australian champion race mare Verry Elleegant is set to travel to Europe and will be based in France at Chantilly to be trained by Francis-Henri Graffard. Connections initially indicated the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (Gr1) at Ascot (UK) in October would be her target but there are many other races she could be considered for in both France and Great Britain. She has not been nominated for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but the option does remain to supplement closer to the date. Now a seven-year-old, her record is outstanding with eleven Group One successes ranging in distance from 1400m to 3200m. To date she has raced 38 times for 16 wins and prizemoney of A$14.86 million (€9.82 million).
For history buffs, the last Australian horse trained in France to contest the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2400m) was Nothin' Leica Dane. The year was 1997 and he was trained by John Hammond. He finished seventh in the race. Twenty years earlier New Zealander Balmerino ran second to Alleged when trained for his UK & European campaign by John Dunlop.
A week following the success of French filly Speak of the Devil in the United States, it was the turn of Rougir to win first-up this campaign in her newly adopted home finding success in the Beaugay Stakes (Gr3) at Belmont Park, New York. Ridden by ex-patriate French jockey Flavien Prat, the winner of last years' Prix de l'Opera (Gr1) at Longchamp raced clear to win by three lengths. Trained by Chad Brown, her next target will be over 2000m in the New York Handicap (Gr1) on June 10.
Stepping up to 2400m former French mare Neige Blanche won her second race in the United States under the training of Leonard Powell scoring in the Santa Barbara Stakes (Gr3) at Santa Anita, making it two from two over the journey. She is by Anodin (a full brother to Goldikova) from Bianca Neve, a handicap winner at Marseille and good producer of winners, as was the granddam.
Trotting
Matthieu Abrivard regular driver of Hastronaute (trained by Yannick Henry) and is scheduled to race that horse next race at Vincennes at the feature summer meeting on June 26 however in a surprise move will now be entering the Prix de Normandie (Gr.1) mounted race for five-year-olds. This will be his second start in a race under saddle, his only other race was at his second career start at Argentan in January 2020 where he was disqualified.
Last Friday mounted race winner Isolin, trained Cyprien Dubanchet, gave first-season stallion Best of Jets his first winner. On the track Best of Jets was the winner of four Group 2 races and twice G1 placed.
Ecrin du Dropt is the latest winner of the the Trophée Vert series, this time at Eauze. He is by New des Landes who was trained by Sébastien Hardy and a thirty-seven times winner with six victories on grass during 2007-2009 seasons including a placing in the 2007 final at Craon. Now a stallion, Ecrin du Dropt is his second highest earner to date and has shown talent on the grass having won four races, but also disqualified four times.
