DEAUVILLE, France–Les Pavots may translate to poppies, but the winner of this year's G2 Prix du Calvados was named after a wine, and it is fair to assume that a drop or two may have been taken on Saturday to toast the success of a Franco-American partnership.
The collaboration may be relatively new, but the ownership between Nicolas de Chambure of Haras d'Etreham and Craig Bernick is the blending of two established families of the turf on each side of the Atlantic. Bernick's grandparents Leonard and Bernice Lavin founded Glen Hill Farm in Florida in 1967, while the Chambure family has been at Etreham in Normandy since the 1940s.
Les Pavots (Ire) (No Nay Never), trained by Francis Graffard who took both group contests at Deauville on Saturday, made her winning debut back in May and has earned black type in each of her four starts since then. Bought privately from her breeder Coolmore, she was one of three fillies acquired by the partnership last year through agent Hubie de Burgh, and is the first to run.
“Hubie put it together, and did all the leg work on a few dozen horses,” said a delighted Bernick in the winner's enclosure at Deauville. “We picked some out and we were able to make a deal. The de Chambures are wonderful partners and know exactly what they are doing.”
He added, “The first time she ran she looked like a top filly and the next two races she got run off her feet a little bit. The Listed race was over a shorter distance and in the [G3 Prix du Bois] against Ramatuelle she wasn't as good, but last time over seven furlongs was the first time we took hold of her and she finished it out well, and today again. She's probably learning to run a bit and we are really excited to have her.”
Even without being a group winner Les Pavots has plenty to recommend her on paper, for not only is she a half-sister to the G1 Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) but her granddam All Too Beautiful (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) is a sister to Galileo (Ire) and was runner-up in the Oaks before winning the G3 Middleton S.
Bernick continued, “Francis is a great trainer and he has always said, even when she was getting beat, that he really liked the filly because she's so sound mentally. With No Nay Never over an Oasis Dream mare you wouldn't think distance, but her pedigree goes back to Urban Sea.
“She really lacks nothing. She's a beautiful filly with a great pedigree and now she's a Group 2 winner in her two-year-old year in Deauville. We're just over the moon to have her.”
Bernick also has horses in training in Ireland, notably the Fozzy Stack-trained homebred Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify), who won the GI Belmont Oaks when on her travels in July. He boards mares at Norelands Stud in Ireland as well as in France.
“We keep a couple of our own and a few together with Etreham and they're great,” he said of his French venture. “My family has been in the business since before I was born and Nicolas's family also has done much more than we have. They're great partners and Hubie has had a long relationship with the de Chambures, and fortunately we were able to tap into their relationship. Days like this are very special.”
Hubie de Burgh added, “It's very hard to buy into families like this. You just can't get your hands on them. They'll never sell her and she'll go to the best stallions in the world. It's the start of a long story.”
Bernick, who said he was “cautiously shopping” at Arqana, bought a Dubawi (Ire) filly on the opening night of the sale for €390,000 through de Burgh. Her dam Right Hand (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) is a half-sister to the Wertheimers' G1 Prix Vermeille winner Left Hand (GB), who is also by Dubawi.
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