Wertheimer Bluebloods Grace Saint-Cloud Affair

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features a filly out of The Juliet Rose (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}).

4.10 Saint-Cloud, Debutantes, €27,000, 3yo, f, 10ft
RONEA (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) is the pick of Maxime Guyon of two Wertheimer newcomers, with Andre Fabre saddling the daughter of the dual G2 Prix de Royallieu winner and G1 Prix Vermeille third The Juliet Rose (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}). The other is the Carlos Laffon-Parias-trained Esperance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), a daughter of the operation's Arc heroine Solemia (Ire) (Poliglote {GB}) who has the assistance of amateur Dorian Provost, headgear and a 2 1/2-kilo allowance.

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Lope De Vega Filly On The Classic Trail

Into black-type company on her second start after a winning debut over 7 1/2 furlongs at Saint-Cloud in October, Peter Savill's Autumn Starlight (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}–Falling Leaves {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) emerged from Saturday's Listed Prix la Camargo at that venue with her perfect record maintained and reputation enhanced. Tracking the early leader Heavenly Breath (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in third under Christophe Soumillon, the 14-5 second favourite looked to have it to do a furlong from home as that 8-5 market-leader who had run second to Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) in the G3 Prix d'Aumale gained what appeared to be a decisive advantage. Finding a late surge, the €150,000 Arqana Deauville August graduate overhauled the English raider in the final stride for a nose verdict to provide her jockey with a third black-type win on the card.

“This race was not a target, just a reintroduction and we hoped that she would run well,” trainer Stephane Wattel said. “We didn't expect to see her win, so that is probably a very good sign. She has done well physically during the winter and will come on for that. We will see about her next start, but it is not hard to imagine that it could be the [G3] Prix de la Grotte.”

Autumn Starlight is the second foal and first runner for the dam, a daughter of the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and G1 Moyglare Stud S. heroine Again whose 2-year-old son of Kingman (GB) was a €260,000 purchase by Paul Nataf at the Arqana Deauville August Yearling Sale. Again was responsible for a trio of Galileo black-type performers in the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. and G1 Prix de Royallieu runner-up Delphinia (Ire), the Listed El Gran Senor S.-winning sire Indian Maharaja (Ire) and Delano Roosevelt (Ire) who was placed in four group races. The third dam Cumbres is kin to the mighty Montjeu (Ire) linked to top-level scorers and sires Aclaim (Ire) and Galileo Gold (GB).

PRIX LA CAMARGO-Listed, €55,000, Saint-Cloud, 3-18, 3yo, f, 8fT, 1:50.02, vs.
1–AUTUMN STARLIGHT (GB), 126, f, 3, by Lope De Vega (Ire)
     1st Dam: Falling Leaves (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Again (Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
     3rd Dam: Cumbres (Fr), by Kahyasi (Ire)
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. (€150,000 Ylg '21 ARQAUG). O-P D Savill; B-Ecurie des Monceaux, Beauregard Bloodstock & Rifa Mustang Europe Ltd (GB); T-Stephane Wattel; J-Christophe Soumillon. €27,500. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, €41,000.
2–Heavenly Breath (GB), 126, f, 3, Dark Angel (Ire)–Astonishing (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). (150,000gns RNA Ylg '21 TATOCT). O/B-Apple Tree Stud (GB); T-Archie Watson. €11,000.
3–Palerma (Fr), 126, f, 3, Alex The Winner–Peace Mine, by Mineshaft.
1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Gerard Augustin-Normand & Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois; B-Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois (FR); T-Mme Manon Scandella-Lacaille. €8,250.
Margins: NO, 1HF, HF. Odds: 2.80, 1.60, 18.00.
Also Ran: Knock On (Fr), Queen Sao (Fr), Angelaba (Ire), Hoxton (Ire), Axdaliva (Fr). Video, sponsored by TVG.

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Rising Star Pensee Du Jour Set For Black-Type Bow

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features a 'TDN Rising Star'.

15.00 Saint-Cloud, Listed, €55,000, 3yo, f, 10fT
Ballymore Thoroughbred Racing's 3-year-old filly PENSEE DU JOUR (IRE) (Camelot {GB}) made a spectacular winning debut at Chantilly last month, attaining 'TDN Rising Star' status with a geared-down four-length tally over 9 1/2 furlongs, and she takes the step up in class and trip for this turf bow. The January-foaled bay is one of 10 nominated for Saint-Cloud's Listed Prix Rose de Mai over 10 furlongs and her rivals include undefeated winners-of-one Cracksmania (GB) (Cracksman {GB}) and Akagera (Fr) (Prince Gibraltar {Fr}).

 

16.10 Saint-Cloud, Listed, €52,000, 4yo/up, 8fT
Al Asayl France's homebred 2020 G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. hero THE REVENANT (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) returns to action for Francis Graffard and encounters seven hardened rivals coming back off an Oct. 15 seventh over this trip when making his fourth start in the Ascot benchmark last time. The 8-year-old gelding lines up for a third go at Saint-Cloud's Listed Prix Altipan and has saluted five times in seven starts over the one-mile strip here, including two Group 3s and the 2019 and 2022 editions of this fixture.

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Book Review: Robert Braithwaite’s Places Reversed

Every novelist that engages the subject of horse racing is facing an odds-on favorite in Dick Francis. The all-time master, Francis effectively conjured racetrack heroes within the friendly confines of his umpteen mystery novels. With his passing, son Felix continues the family trade by employing the same tried-and-true formula.

Francis always presented the reader with protagonists like a chef with high culinary morals or a noble former jump jockey-turned-P.I. or a smart-looking specialist in kidnapping who moonlights as a philosopher-psychologist. The author had us at “Hullo, how are you?” In his tack room of pithy descriptors, you knew precisely who the good guys were. As for the black hats, they were always wielding a poker or employing henchmen that oozed bad manners and wore toe caps.

In Robert Braithwaite's independently published debut novel Places Reversed, the author who is clearly familiar with the yard, the ring and the racetrack pub, takes a totally different tack. Here we find a cast of characters that are all inherently flawed longshots. There is no Max Moreton, Sid Halley nor an Andrew Douglas afoot to save the day. A spine among this lot will only be found in the book itself. Braithwaite hands us the debt-ridden main character Freddie Lyons, a trainer named Birkett Coward who wants to bet everything with four legs in his stable, and Robert Hamley-Flowers, a former stud farm owner that is a poor judge of character, including his own. Braithwaite's Chunnel story is filled with rogues that are “a funeral away from ruin”. From the French countryside to Newmarket's famed racecourses, Lyons's well-trodden path is dogged by bills, creditors, the ubiquitous Russian mafia, and an ex-wife who did not let the grass grow under her feet.

When Lyons's bloodstock agent disappears and his business partner is poisoned in a racetrack bar and slips into a coma, chapter after chapter of scheming and degeneracy surrounds each scene. To make matters worse, Lyons, a former amateur jockey, teams up with his old boss Coward, in some train-wreck television at its best. With little in the way of cash, they decide that laying the money that they do have on the trainer's “sure bets” is the way to go. The goal? They are trying to raise enough to buy the dam of one of Coward's supposed prize runners. The mare, who happens to be owned by Hamley-Flowers is in foal, and the suitors believe she is a blue-ribbon ticket to the promised land.

The best and most compelling character in this whole book isn't any of these poor sods. Rather it is the shrewd business-minded Tara Fitzsimmons, whose diversified bloodstock and racing empire is always five chess moves ahead of this pathetic trio. She is complex, savvy and knows how to take advantage of weaknesses when she sees them in the male-dominated world of racing. Buying Hamley-Flowers's stud farm for a song, Fitzsimmons knows what her dunderheaded opponents want, and even though Lyons concocts bogus proof that he had a deal to buy the mare before the sale of the property, she smells a rat. If only we had more characters with her type of moxie!

Returning to Francis's world of racing, his antagonists let their greed and avarice rule. They seek an unfair advantage, they get caught, and in the end, the key gets thrown away. Another happy landing and comfort for all. In Brathwaite's tale, this bunch clearly doesn't understand the ramifications of their poor decision-making. Bearing witness to their ignoble behavior becomes a hair exhausting, and the reader longs for some of Francis's white knight chivalry. Whether set at Royal Ascot or Saint-Cloud, Places Reversed could use more stiff upper lip and less chocolate eclair. But anti-heroes are all the rage these days and there is nothing more exhilarating than a longshot made good.

Places Reversed, Printed in Great Britain by Amazon, 257 pages, October, 2022

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