Olympic Glory’s Grand Glory Untouchable in the Allez France

Haras de Hus's Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}), who registered a personal best in last term's G1 Prix Jean Romanet, ran second in the G1 Prix de l'Opera and fifth in November's G1 Japan Cup and had since realised the second-highest price at Arqana's December fixture when selling for €2.5-million. She went postward for Sunday's G3 Prix Allez France Longines coming back off a pipe-opening score in last month's Listed Prix Zarkava and justified odds-on favouritism with a powerful display in the 10-furlong test. The 1-2 chalk tracked the leaders from off the pace in fourth through halfway. Looming large off the home turn, she was shaken up to seize control passing the quarter-mile marker and powered clear of toiling rivals thereafter to easily outclass Zarkava second Burgarita (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) by an impressive 3 1/2 lengths.

“That was perfect, just perfect,” beamed trainer Gianluca Bietolini. “She did everything right and she didn't have a hard race. It was a race with a proper pace and Cristian [Demuro] did right to position her in fourth behind the second favorite of Mr Fabre [Burgarita]. It was the perfect lead and, from the one pole, she extended herself beautifully. She is heavier than she was at the same time last year, she is still maturing and getting stronger. The G2 Prix Corrida is the next step, but we could have a other plans. Options could include the [G1] Prince of Wales's S. [at Royal Ascot], but she is not yet entered in that, or another race with the [G1] King George [VI & Queen Elizabeth S.] in mind. I shall have to see how she comes out of the race and will discuss matters with the owner and [racing manager] Anne Sophie Yo.”

Grand Glory, kin to last term's Listed Prix du Ranelagh winner Bois d'Argent (GB) (Toronado {Ire}), notched her sixth black-type win here and is the leading performer produced by a daughter of Listed Coupe des Pouliches runner-up Maria de la Luz (GB) (Machiavellian). Maria de la Luz, who also threw GII Canadian S. victrix Minakshi (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), is a half-sister to the dual stakes-placed dam of G1 Crown Oaks heroine Arapaho Miss (Aus) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). Arapaho Miss, in turn, is the dam of G1 VRC Oaks heroine Miami Bound (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}). Grand Glory's third dam Light of Hope (Lyphard) is a full-sister to GSW sire Alzao (Lyphard) and hails from the family of Preakness S. hero and champion sire Tom Rolfe (Ribot {GB}).

Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France
PRIX ALLEZ FRANCE LONGINES-G3, €80,000, ParisLongchamp, 5-1, 4yo/up, f/m, 10fT, 2:03.51, g/s.
1–GRAND GLORY (GB), 127, m, 6, Olympic Glory (Ire)
1st Dam: Madonna Lily (Ire), by Daylami (Ire)
2nd Dam: Maria de La Luz (GB), by Machiavellian
3rd Dam: Light of Hope, by Lyphard
(€18,000 Ylg '17 ARQOCT; €2,500,000 HRA '21 ARQDEC). O-Haras de Hus; B-Elevage Haras de Bourgeauville (GB); T-Gianluca Bietolini; J-Cristian Demuro. €40,000. Lifetime Record: Hwt. Older Mare-Fr at 9.5-11f & G1SW-Fr, 20-8-4-3, €862,790. *1/2 to Bois d'Argent (GB) (Toronado {Ire}), SW-Fr, $106,285. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Burgarita (GB), 123, f, 4, Sea the Stars (Ire)–Angelita (Ire), by Alzao. (95,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA). O-Ecurie Ama.Zingteam; B-Dayton Investments Ltd (GB); T-Andre Fabre. €16,000.
3–Amazing Grace (Ger), 123, f, 4, Protectionist (Ger)–Amabelle (Ger), by Danehill Dancer (Ire). O/B-Dr Christoph Berglar (GER); T-Waldemar Hickst. €12,000.
Margins: 3HF, HF, 3. Odds: 0.50, 3.40, 20.00.
Also Ran: Layla (Fr), Rumi (Fr), Irska (Fr), Waldbiene (Fr). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.

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Partners Bid Farewell To Grand Mare

Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) has taken her connections on a remarkable ride over the last three years, and after a short sojourn in Tokyo-where she picked up fifth-place prizemoney in Sunday's G1 Japan Cup-the G1 Prix Jean Romanet winner and G1 Prix de Diane third-place finisher rolls into Deauville this weekend to go through the ring at the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale as lot 192 from Haras de Castillon.

Grand Glory is trained in France and owned by a trio of Americans, but her story has a decidedly Italian feel. Purchased for €18,000 as a yearling by the Rome-based Marco Bozzi, Grand Glory went into training in Maisons-Laffitte with Gianluca Bietolini, a successful trainer in Italy who emigrated to France in 2013. After making a winning debut in December of 2018 for owner Bartolo Faraci, Grand Glory was purchased privately by a trio of Italian American friends now scattered across the States: Albert Frassetto, John D'Amato and Mike Pietrangelo.

Pietrangelo, a Memphis-based retired attorney, has been dabbling in racehorse ownership, breeding and pinhooking for the better part of 20 years, but he has never had a horse like Grand Glory. Recalling how he and his partners came to buy her, Pietrangelo said, “John [D'Amato] is really close to our trainer, Gianluca Bietolini, and also with Marco Bozzi, who is our bloodstock agent in Europe. Marco had bought Grand Glory for another client, and she ran a very good first race. John D'Amato called up Gianluca to congratulate him, and Gianluca was a little sad. He said, 'I've already had calls and I think the owner is going to sell.' John said, 'no, we need to buy this horse. Tell me what a fair price is.' We had Marco work that out and we bought her. Then John said, 'I'm going to ask Al Frassetto to come in.' So we have a third each.”

Pietrangelo and D'Amato met at a day at the races hosted by another Italian American, the Florida-based Paolo Romanelli, about 10 years ago. The pair, who each had racing interests in the U.S., hit it off, and before they knew it they were racehorse owners overseas.

“There were a couple of horses that were sold in Ocala and shipped over to Europe, but the buyer never paid for them, so the horses were there and they were actually with Gianluca, so we bought them,” Pietrangelo said. “Between the three of them, I don't think they won a race, but that's how we got started. Marco then bought us a couple at the Arqana sale, and we had some good luck.”

Some good luck, and a lot of ability, would be a good descriptor for Grand Glory who, after her purchase by D'Amato, Frassetto and Pietrangelo, was put away for the winter. Meeting heavy ground on her 3-year-old debut, she was second in the Listed Prix Rose de Mai, and five weeks later won a Saint-Cloud conditions race going 2000 metres. Next up was a lofty assignment in the G1 Prix de Diane, but Grand Glory's odds of 28-1 did nothing to damper the excitement of her owners, who all traveled to Chantilly to see their filly in action. Grand Glory outran her odds to be a fast-finishing third behind Channel (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}).

“That was one of my most exciting days at the races,” Pietrangelo said. “It's as big a race in France as anything we have in the U.S., and to see her close like she did–maybe with another 20, 30 yards, I'm not saying we'd win, but maybe we'd get second. It was just spectacular.”

The subsequent onset of the pandemic has meant that Team Grand Glory hasn't since been able to gather to cheer home their mare in person, but she has nonetheless continued to provide thrills from afar. In her first appearance since the Diane, Grand Glory won her first black-type race, the Listed Prix Zarkava at ParisLongchamp, last May, and added the G3 Prix de Flore before seasons' end.

As good as Grand Glory was at three and four, she has proven a revelation at five. After winning the G3 Grand Prix de Vichy, she came from a joint-last early to nab the defending winner and Breeders' Cup champion Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) by a short head in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet in August. The bob of the head, however, went against Grand Glory next out, and she lost the G1 Prix de l'Opera by a nose to Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}), who will also be offered on Saturday.

“After she won the Romanet we were pretty excited, and then we went to the Opera and she lost by a little bit less than she won the Romanet,” Pietrangelo said. “You live by the sword you die by. You can't complain, though it was heartbreaking.”

A trip to the Breeders' Cup and subsequent sale at Fasig-Tipton November had come under consideration for Grand Glory, but with Bietolini wary of the mare's suitability to Del Mar, that plan was shelved. Just days after the Opera, it was announced that Grand Glory would sell at Arqana, but her owners weren't quite ready to call time on a mare at the top of her game. So it was decided to take up an invitation for the Japan Cup.

“We tried like heck to go, and they dropped the quarantine to three days so that made it possible, but you had to have an essential reason to travel to Japan, and owning a horse in the Japan Cup wasn't considered essential enough,” Pietrangelo said.

So Pietrangelo and his family stayed up until 1 a.m. to watch at home in Memphis as Grand Glory came home a very respectable fifth, tracking the winner Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) much of the way before getting going a bit late in the stretch, a placing no international raider has bettered in Tokyo's marquee race in the past decade.

“We're very satisfied,” Pietrangelo said. “Nobody was going to catch the winner, Contrail–that's a special horse–but I think that stretch was a bit short for her. It was incredible competition and I think it was a great experience-we're sorry we couldn't have been there with her, but we're pleased.”

“She came out of it fine,” he added. “It's hard to say I'm happy with fifth, but with that field and under the conditions, it's ok. We beat the other two foreign horses, and one of those [Broome] had finished second in the Breeders' Cup just three weeks ago, so we're pleased. I don't think she hurt her value for the sale at all. It was quite a privilege for us to have a horse invited to that race and to run respectably, which is what she did.”

One of just two current-season Group 1 winners catalogued at the sale, Grand Glory-with an outcross pedigree to boot-offers plenty of upside to breeders anywhere in the world.

“I think she's really an outstanding broodmare prospect,” Pietrangelo said. “Her demeanour-you can get in the stall with her, you could take her out and walk her, she's just so pleasant to be around. For a horse that's that good and that competitive, the only time she has an edge is on the racetrack. She's perfectly correct, she's good-sized, and she has a race record.”

“There is no stallion in Europe that you couldn't breed her to except for her own sire,” he added. “She would be an outcross with anyone, and we think that's really an exciting opportunity for her.”

Pietrangelo said high-end breeding has never been in the business plan of he or is partners-hence why Grand Glory is going through the ring-but he stressed that, naturally, they won't let her go cheaply.

“The problem with breeding from her-and we've talked about it-is that to do her justice, you need to go to one of the top sires anywhere,” he reasoned. “In Europe, you're talking a couple hundred thousand pounds. In the U.S., who are you going to breed her to? You'd have to breed her to a turf stallion so you'd go to War Front. But to do her justice you need to have a large breeder who has the resources and wherewithal to say, 'we're going to breed her to the best available.'”

“To do her right would require substantial commitment to stud fees, and that's not the level I play at,” he added. “John doesn't breed, and I don't think Al breeds, so it didn't make sense for us to change what we do. But of course if she doesn't get a price we're happy with, we'll have to change what we do. We're not going to give her away. So if we have to breed from her, we will. But we think in the hands of one of the leading breeders around, she'll be a lot better served and her offspring will have much better opportunities.”

While the pandemic has forced Pietrangelo to miss out on much of Grand Glory's Group 1 action, he is taking up the opportunity to travel to Deauville this week to see Grand Glory go through the ring. For the man who fell in love with racing going to Aqueduct Racetrack in New York to watch Dr. Fager run, the gravity of being the custodian of a mare like Grand Glory is not lost.

“She means so much,” Pietrangelo said. “Just to have a horse to do this, and to be there for the Diane; that was probably one of the best days I've had, and I've been to all the Derbys. It's very rewarding to have a mare of this calibre and to know that she's a gentle mare with a really good head, and is so pleasant to be around.”

Bozzi has already begun to replenish the partners' stable with the addition of a 2-year-old and a yearling, and Pietrangelo warned he may not be leaving Deauville empty-handed, even if Grand Glory does sell.

“Marco Bozzi is convinced we need to buy a replacement,” Pietrangelo said. “He has already told me, 'if she sells well, you're not leaving unless you buy a broodmare.' I told him if he can guarantee me one with the same ability, I might go for it.”

He added, “It's a lot of fun, and having the faith I have in Gianluca and Marco-I know Marco will pick out a good horse for us, and I know Gianluca is as good a trainer as we can have. You have to have that confidence in the people you're working with, or you probably ought to find something else to do. But we have tremendous confidence in their skills and they've proven it. It's been fun. I never thought I'd be owning horses running in Europe or Japan, but things happen.”

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Japan Cup: O’Brien Sending Breeders’ Cup Runners Broome, Japan

Ballydoyle master Aidan O'Brien plans to send Breeders' Cup Turf second and fourth-place finishers Broome and Japan to the Nov. 28 Japan Cup, according to racingpost.com. The 1 1/2-mile contest at Tokyo Racecourse is worth ¥648 million (about US$5.6 million), and has also drawn Group 1 winner Grand Glory from the barn of trainer Gianluca Bietolini.

Broome, the 5-year-old son of Australia, won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud back in July. He also ran second in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, and in the Breeders' Cup he finished second, beaten a half-length by Yibir under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Japan, a 5-year-old son of Galileo, won a pair of Group 3 races in Europe this season and ran a big second in the G1 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga in August, beaten just a neck by Gufo.

Grand Glory, a 5-year-old daughter of Olympic Glory, won the G1 Prix Jean Romanet and was beaten just a nose in the G1 Prix de l'Opera on Arc day. The Japan Cup will be the final race of her career.

Read more at racingpost.com.

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Olympic Glory’s Grand Glory Upsets The Romanet

Deauville's G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet has a habit of producing shock winners and there was another to add to the list on Sunday as Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) got up late to deny last year's heroine Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in a thriller. Last seen enjoying a confidence-boosting success in the July 21 G3 Grand Prix de Vichy, Albert Frassetto, John d'Amato and Mike Pietrangelo's G3 Prix de Flore and Listed Prix Zarkava winner who was third in the 2019 G1 Prix de Diane was anchored in rear early by Cristian Demuro. Making her move wide on the home turn, the 23-1 shot needed all of the straight to get past the reigning GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf title-holder but managed it on the line to prevail by a short head, with the G1 Pretty Polly S. scorer Thundering Nights (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) 1 1/4 lengths away in third. “This is a dream really–these races personally I used to watch on TV and they were not for me, but here I am winning a group 1 in Deauville, it's such a thrill,” trainer Gianluca Bietolini said. “I knew I had the filly in great form and she was doing very well after Vichy with a much less complicated season this year than last. We made the right choices for her and she has come through this season more straightforwardly, so I felt it was a really good time to try her again in a group 1 race.”

Much water has flown under the bridge since Grand Glory was beaten a head and half a length when making the frame in the 2019 Diane and despite maintaining an admirable level of consistency, few would have predicted that the bay would make the requisite jump required to get to this esteemed level. Her efforts last season included the aforementioned wins in ParisLongchamp's Prix Zarkava and Saint-Cloud's Prix de Flore, a second to Ambition (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G2 Prix Corrida staged at Lyon-Parilly and a third behind Ebaiyra (Distorted Humor) in the 12 1/2-furlong G2 Prix de Pomone here. Third to Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) on her comeback in the 10-furlong G3 Prix Exbury on heavy ground back at Saint-Cloud Mar. 21, she was uncharacteristically disappointing when last of six in the G3 Prix Allez France at ParisLongchamp May 2 before finishing third in the latter venue's G3 La Coupe again over this trip June 13.

Buoyed by her success at Vichy, Grand Glory showed what a sudden uptick in self-belief can do as she mastered a strong field of fillies and mares including the ultimately disappointing 9-5 favourite Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) without a hint of fluke. Bietolini is considering the G1 Prix de l'Opera de Longchamp now Oct. 3. “It looks to me that she is back to the level of her Diane run as a 3-year-old, but she's not in the Arc and I wouldn't want to go there anyway,” he said. “The Opera is enough for us and maybe we'll have another great day there. She'll head to the farm after that.” James Fanshawe said of the runner-up, “She's run a great race and was beaten narrowly, but that's the game–you win and you lose so hats off to the winner. I'm very happy that she's come back to her best after Goodwood and we'll take it race-by-race with the plan to come back for the Opera and then go to the Breeders' Cup like last year.”

Grand Glory's dam Madonna Lily (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}), whose final foal is the useful 4-year-old gelding Bois d'Argent (GB) (Toronado {Ire}), is a daughter of the listed-placed Maria de La Luz (GB) (Machiavellian) who produced the GII Canadian S. winner Minakshi (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}). She is also the second dam of the Scandinavian juvenile champion and Listed Meydan Classic-placed Irish Trilogy (Ire) (Gregorian {Ire}) hailing from the family of the Australian group 1-winning mother and daughter Arapaho Miss (Aus) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and Miami Bound (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) and the Preakness S. hero and champion sire Tom Rolfe (Ribot {GB}).

Sunday, Deauville, France
DARLEY PRIX JEAN ROMANET-G1, €250,000, Deauville, 8-22, 4yo/up, f/m, 10fT, 2:06.99, g/s.
1–GRAND GLORY (GB), 126, m, 5, by Olympic Glory (Ire)
     1st Dam: Madonna Lily (Ire), by Daylami (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Maria de La Luz (GB), by Machiavellian
     3rd Dam: Light of Hope, by Lyphard
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (€18,000 Ylg '17 AROCT). O-Albert Frassetto, John d'Amato & Mike Pietrangelo; B-Elevage Haras de Bourgeauville (GB); T-Gianluca Bietolini; J-Cristian Demuro. €142,850. Lifetime Record: 16-6-3-3, €447,190. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Audarya (Fr), 126, m, 5, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Green Bananas (Fr), by Green Tune. (€125,000 Ylg '17 AROYRG). O-Mrs A M Swinburn; B-SARL Haras d'Ecouves (FR); T-James Fanshawe. €57,150.
3–Thundering Nights (Ire), 126, f, 4, Night of Thunder (Ire)–Cape Castle (Ire), by Cape Cross (Ire). (€17,000 RNA Wlg '17 GOFNOV; €19,000 RNA Ylg '18 TIRSEP). O-Shapoor Mistry; B-Manjri Farm (IRE); T-Joseph O'Brien. €28,575.
Margins: SHD, 1 1/4, 3/4. Odds: 23.20, 6.30, 3.50.
Also Ran: Ambition (GB), Cayenne Pepper (Ire), Ebaiyra, Lady Bowthorpe (GB), Insinuendo (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.

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