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Charley Rossi speaks about the Prix Marcel Boussac winner, Tiger Tanaka.
Charley Rossi won the 2020 G1 Prix Marcel Boussac (1600m) with Tiger Tanaka, a filly claimed earlier this year. A few weeks before the end of the season in Europe, he draws conclusions on this year's crop of juveniles…
This weekend, the Criterium International and the Criterium de Saint Cloud are contested. Is Tiger Tanaka going to run in either race?
It will be the Criterium de Saint-Cloud over 2000m. I was thinking about running in the Italian "Marcel Boussac" on Sunday 24 October in Milan, the Gran Criterium di Milano. There is more money, it is closer from my stable in Marseille and I would be delighted to be able to allow my wife to win a Group race in her country, especially since she will also have a runner in the Italian Arc (Gran Premio del Jockey Club).
What is your assessment of your two-year-olds this year?
A positive one of course thanks to Tiger Tanaka. In the first part of the year, I discovered my two year-olds wouldn't be ready before autumn, so I bought several to race at the start of the year and all of them won except one who had surgery. For the end of the year, the late developers will race and I think my two-year-olds should be followed closely.
How do you explain this success?
The level has generally raised in the South thanks to investors who have allowed us to shine such as Jean-François Gribomont, Jean-Pierre Dubois, Michel Delaunay, Olivier Ulmann or Miguel Megias. Marseille trainers are skillful and we can see it thanks to these horses. If the trainers from the south-east are this successful, it is also, I must say, because the Parisian trainers don't race a lot of juveniles. In Marseille, it is during the race that the sorting takes place: mine (Tiger Tanaka) has only worked once and never on the grass before the Boussac.
Is there a French two-year-old this year you have liked apart from Tiger Tanaka?
Petricor (Frankel / Ruscombe), winner of the Prix des Marettes, a representative of Khalid Abdullah, is heaven. Even if I don't train her, I just want to touch her. I was lucky enough to see a lot of Juddmonte horses when I was assistant to Christiane Head and I admire the breeding.
And then there are the good horses of Marseille like that of my brother Cédric, Lepti Prinsadi, who won her maiden in Marseille and which is promising.
How do you see the Criteriums in Saint-Cloud?
As usual, we have a race between 5 to 10 starters, 90% of whom are international contenders: I expect there will be limited French representation. The French will not run apart from Jean-Claude Rouget, Stéphanie Nigge or Pia Brandt, whose horses will have good chances.
How did it feel to win a Prix Marcel Boussac without international representation?
International runners do not intimidate me. It has been claimed this year's Marcel Boussac was not as strong as previous editions. (I heard it was a bad Marcel Boussac edition because I won). I am competitive and love to take on challenges. You should not be ashamed of being beaten but I think Tiger can look the Aidan O'Brien's contenders in the eye, whether it's this year or next in the Classics. O'Brien has a habit to follow : he is a trainer who runs a lot of horses in the same race because there are horses that only show up in the afternoon.
With 2 years old, you have to be bold.
