Chantilly | Horse Racing Free Tips

Eleven Set For Oaks Test

There was just the one withdrawal from Friday's £550,000 G1 Cazoo Oaks on Wednesday, with the removal of Kirsten Rausing's G3 Musidora S. third Ching Shih (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) meaning that 11 fillies will head postward for the Epsom Classic. The John and Thady Gosden-trained market leaders and TDN Rising Stars Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) have been drawn alongside each other in five and six respectively, while of Ballydoyle's quartet Coolmore and Westerberg's 1000 Guineas third and Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has been drawn in one away from the Irish Guineas third Concert Hall (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in stall 10. Ryan Moore is on Tuesday, with Seamie Heffernan taking the mount on Concert Hall.

Deja Vu?

Epsom was hit by heavy rain 12 months ago and the potential is there for it to happen again on Saturday according to Clerk of the Course Andrew Cooper. With 12 millimetres of rain having fallen since Monday, the going was officially good-to-soft, soft in places on Wednesday but the forecast is volatile as the Blue Riband approaches. “It has brightened up and we are heading into what looks like two dry days with temperatures around 20C, and then heaven knows what is going to happen on Saturday,” he said. “On the basis of where we are now with what we think will happen as far as Friday is concerned, I can see us being at or near good ground and maybe just on the slow side in places. Cazoo Derby day has got the potential to be a bit of a deluge, but you wouldn't know. There is a lot of uncertainty with timings, quantities and that sort of thing. But Saturday, certainly, there is a risk of rain.”

Eydon Misses Out

No sooner had Prince Faisal's Eydon (Ire) (Olden Times {GB}) been committed to Saturday's G1 Cazoo Derby was he confirmed a non-runner by Roger Varian having met with a setback. The 2000 Guineas fourth was one of six scratches from Sunday's G1 Prix du Jockey Club on Wednesday, with Epsom the target but his trainer announced late in the afternoon that the homebred will miss all weekend Classic engagements. “Sadly Eydon will miss the Derby at Epsom. He has met with a minor setback which will keep him from running on Saturday,” he tweeted. “While it is of course hugely frustrating to miss a Classic opportunity, we will look forward to the rest of the season with Eydon and he remains a very exciting prospect for his owner, Prince A A Faisal.”

Other high-profile withdrawals from the Chantilly Classic were The Queen's Reach For the Moon (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), The Aga Khan's Erevann (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Star of India (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who forms part of Ballydoyle's Derby team.

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Remembering Lester: A Personal Recollection by John Hammond

It was Wednesday morning, 5 December 1990. The phone rang. 'You running anything at the weekend?'. Inwardly I groaned, I knew what was coming. I was running a handicapper slightly past his best in the 2,100m handicap at Saint-Cloud on the Saturday. An older horse with his issues, not a comfortable ride, Lester had ridden him 11 days earlier when he was a well beaten third. 'Ok, I'll come and ride him'. And so, to my embarrassment, he flew over at his own expense for one, dodgy ride.

It was Lester Piggott who was responsible for my being in France. Returning from America in early 1985, jobless, I had bumped into him and he asked me if I had any plans. I didn't.

'You should go and work for this Fabre guy in France, he's very good, you know.'

He wasn't wrong there. It was the year he was to spend much of riding for André so he kindly made the phone call and got me the job. I got to know him quite well, often ferrying him from the airport to the races in my Austin mini. He was fun, chatty. Those in the car park at the races were always baffled by the mode of transport of this icon of the sport but I think it rather amused him. Lester was never about bling; limousines weren't required to go from A to B.

Returning to Saturday, 8 December 1990. It was a miserable day, raining hail. The old horse cocked his jaw, pulled Lester's arms out, came to win then faded to be third. Returning to the unsaddling enclosure dripping wet, freezing cold, Lester got off and gave the horse a friendly pat before trudging off to the jocks' room. There wasn't much to say.

Back in the car, returning to the airport after his one ride, he said 'He's silly that old horse, he shouldn't pull like that, he could have won, you know.'

I think most jockeys would have used considerably saltier language about the horse or, more so, the fact that he had paid for his own plane ticket and sacrificed a day to come to France for one average ride in shocking weather. But he wasn't unhappy, more the opposite: I had the impression he'd enjoyed his day. It was a month after his famous comeback ride on Royal Academy in the Breeders' Cup and he knew how much he'd missed it.

He had a unique empathy, relationship, with horses. It wasn't sentimental, more mutual respect. He would ask for more when they had more to give but not when a horse was empty. He knew the difference, sometimes being unjustifiably penalised for easing one down. Never did I hear him using pejorative language about a horse that, occasionally for understandable reasons, some do. He liked them.

I feel lucky to have known him.

John Hammond
Chantilly

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Kingman’s Kingentleman Posts a Career High at Chantilly

Guy Pariente's homebred sophomore colt Kingentleman (GB) (Kingman {GB}–Restiadargent {Fr}, by Kendargent {Fr}) was off the board in all three prior starts at black-type level and lined up for Monday's G3 Prix Texanita at Chantilly as the 27-1 outsider-of-eight coming back off a pair of sixths in last month's G3 Prix Djebel and G3 Prix Sigy. The eventual winner, successful twice at this venue earlier in the campaign, raced under a firm grip behind the leaders early and tanked forward to stalk the pace in second after the initial exchanges. Nudged along passing the quarter-mile marker, he launched his challenge approaching the furlong pole and was ridden out in the closing stages to assert by 3/4-of-a-length from Prix Sigy third Le Cadeau (GB) (Dabirsim {Fr}) for a career high.

“He's a nice horse, but is still immature and has needed time to learn the job,” explained trainer Pia Brandt. “He has had to learn to run between horses and five-and-a-half [furlongs] was too sharp for him last time. He had already won over a mile, but in lesser company, and this trip–in this company–seems perfect for him. He is superbly bred and we hoped to earn some black type, so it's mission accomplished. We do very little with him in the mornings at home and he tells us when he is ready to go again. We shall discuss plans with the owner to see what will be next and this win has opened all manner of possibilities.”

Kingentleman, the fifth of six foals, is one of four winners for MGSW G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte victrix and G1 Diamond Jubliee third Restiadargent (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}), herself a full-sister to stakes-winning G3 Prix Fille de l'Air runner-up Restiana (Fr). The March-foaled bay is a full-brother to the unraced 2-year-old filly Steady Woman (Fr) and kin to Listed Prix de Saint-Patrick victor Restiany (GB) (Frankel {GB}). His third dam, Listed Prix Caravelle victrix Restifia (Fr) (Night Shift), is out of a stakes-placed half-sister to G1 Prix de Diane heroine Resless Kara (Fr) (Akarad {Fr}) and hails from the family of MG1SW European champion Natagora (Fr) (Divine Light {Jpn}).

Monday, Chantilly, France
PRIX TEXANITA-G3, €80,000, Chantilly, 5-16, 3yo, 6fT, 1:10.53, g/s.
1–KINGENTLEMAN (GB), 126, c, 3, by Kingman (GB)
1st Dam: Restiadargent (Fr) (MGSW-Fr & G1SP-Eng, $359,786), by Kendargent (Fr)
2nd Dam: Restia (Fr), by Montjeu (Ire)
3rd Dam: Restifia (Fr), by Night Shift
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. O-Guy Pariente; B-Guy Pariente Holding (GB); T-Pia & Joakim Brandt; J-Gregory Benoist. €40,000. Lifetime Record: 8-3-0-0, €73,700. *1/2 to Restiany (GB) (Frankel {GB}), SW-Fr. Werk Nick Rating: D. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Le Cadeau (GB), 126, c, 3, Dabirsim (Fr)–Lady Frances (GB), by Exceed and Excel (Aus). (€15,000 Ylg '20 ARQOCT). O-Mme Jacques Cygler; B-Philip Rolls (GB); T-Henri-Alex Pantall. €16,000.
3–Haziym (Ire), 126, c, 3, Lope de Vega (Ire)–Hazmiyra (Ire), by Pivotal (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O-H H The Aga Kgan; B-H H The Aga Khan's Studs SC (IRE); T-Francis-Henri Graffard. €12,000.
Margins: 3/4, SNK, HF. Odds: 26.80, 3.30, 4.00.
Also Ran: Ebro River (Ire), Before Dawn (Ire), Faro de San Juan (Ire), Feel Your Power (Fr), Copie (GB). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.

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More Commonwealth Clues on Monday

After Tiber Flow (Ire) (Caravaggio) and Twilight Jet (Ire) (Twilight Son {GB}) advertised their claims for Royal Ascot's G1 Commonwealth Cup this weekend, it is the turn of Al Shaqab Racing's Ebro River (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) to put his name in the hat in Monday's G3 Prix Texanita at Chantilly. The G1 Phoenix S. hero was a disappointing fifth on his return in the six-furlong G3 Abernant S. at Newmarket Apr. 13, but he has plenty in hand on his seven rivals on his best form. One who could make a jump is The Aga Khan's Apr. 27 Fontainebleau maiden winner Haziym (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), a major eyecatcher on pedigree in a sprint as a Francis-Henri Graffard-trained relative of Harzand (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}).

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