Quiet Zain returned to ParisLongchamp where he slipped and fell and injured himself in September 2018. He was scratched from the Quinte handicap that day. Those injuries kept him out of racing for more than a month. During the months that followed, he showed his early 2018 form only once, in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Today was his second visit back to Longchamp since that fateful day. In May, he ran in a second division handicap here, only to place third as the top-weighted horse. This time, however, everything lined up perfectly in the first division, the Quinte. He had the same jockey as the previous outing, but a lower weight at 55 kg and a good draw in the 15 horse field (there was one non-runner).
With all that in place, Mickael Barzalona took him straight out of his number 9 gate position, and watched things unfold ahead of him. We thought that maybe he may have been too far back in the pack, but Barza didn’t. In the false stretch run at Longchamp, most horses take a breath. The riskier move is to make a break for it. Mickael did just that. He knew that his horse had what it takes to go to the end. Once in the stretch, he took a convincing lead and never looked back.
Prix Palais du Tokyo Quinte Handicap at ParisLongchamp.
We’ve had a great occasion to celebrate this week as Jack O’ Boy won his second handicap in a row, and in so doing pushed my career earnings as a trainer over the three-million-euro mark. This is my thirteen year as a public trainer, and I’m determined to make this the yard’s lucky number.
From the left: Glorious Emaraty with his owners after his win in Cagnes-sur-Mer; the familiar company of Mickael Forest wearing the silks of Bryan Gusdal (Posing for a win by Ray of Hope) and members of High Street Racing at enjoying a day at Longchamp.
We’re settling in well to the fantastic facilities in Chantilly, and we have a top-class team that includes two former jockeys and one active jockey. The quality of the riders and the rest of the staff is really starting to show through in the horses and we are looking forward to a very exciting year. We are putting in grass paddocks for summer turnout, and other facilities are being added.
The only thing we’re missing is the ability to throw a huge party to officially open our stable, which is obviously on hold because of Covid. Luckily racing wasn’t canceled this year so we’re able to continue to work. Hopefully with vaccinations rolling out (a process that has been painfully slow in France, but we live in hope), we can soon start to see each other again.
Me and my entire team extend a huge thank you to our owners, past and present. We could not have built this business without every one of you. Nothing makes us happier than putting all of you in the winner’s circle!
JACK THE STAR!
Owner Susanne Born bought Jack O’ Boy when he finished 2nd in a claimer in Cagnes sur Mer. He’s a small horse but nicely bred, with two black-type brothers, so while he didn’t have a stellar form so far, he seemed worth the risk. He clearly enjoyed the change from the huge yard of Henri-Alex Pantall to a small stable with plenty of attention. We also decided pretty quickly that his best distance might be shorter than the 2000 meters he was currently running, and that fibersand might not be his preference.
Jack O’Boy
When we switched to 1600 meters on the turf at St. Cloud, he rewarded us with an easy win at odds of 70-1! Those odds dropped to 9-1 on his outing on Friday in Compiegne, but no matter, Jack won anyway. We’ll be taking a hit in the handicap ratings for those back-to-back performances, but we’ll see how far Jack can go before we have to worry about that. He’s come out of his race well and we’ll see where he takes us next.
A CAGNES MEETING UNLIKE ANY OTHER
Cagnes sur Mer this year was certainly a different experience than we’re used to, with no public allowed on the track and even owners restricted to one per horse. Despite that, though, the sun was still shining and our horses were in form.
We left Cagnes with two wins and 26 places for just under 100,000 euros in earnings. Most of our new team had never done the meeting before, and I can tell you they’re all counting the days already until next year!
The crew after loading the equipment. Time to head north.
The riders: Johanna, Yasmine, and Maxime.
Quiet Zain was the star of the meeting, with a win and two seconds for his three starts there. We’ve always been lucky enough to have one or two horses that absolutely love this track and keep coming up with the goods year after year. He’s one of them. Four of his five wins have been in Cagnes.
My Sweet Boy finally got his nose in front, too; unfortunately, so did a competitor and we had to settle for a dead heat victory. Next time he won’t share!
LOOKING AHEAD
March and April are always challenging months for us, because we have the after-Cagnes lull when those horses who worked hard leading up to and through the meeting need a break, and we’re still bringing on the horses for the summer.
Obviously, the next meeting in our sights is Vichy, which is set for mid-July, and this year we hope to have a stronger showing this August in Deauville than we’ve had in previous years.
France Galop has raised the owners’ premiums for two-year-olds to 70 percent this year, and those premiums will carry over to the three-year-old season for these horses. We are working on putting together some partnerships on two-year-olds to take advantage of these premiums, so if you’d like to be involved, please let us know!
STATUS REPORT
Here’s where our current string are in their training and plans:
MISTER MARIO (Kheleyf out of a Country Reel mare) took third place in the 2000 meter (11/4 mile) Prix de la Place Wagram handicap on the good going in St Cloud July 13, 2020. Jockey Coralie PACAUT managed the far outside draw to ensure the place for owner Marie-Carmel NAIM.
ASIAN QUEEN (Diamond Green out of a Country Reel mare) took second place in the 2400 meter (11/2 mile) Prix des Gardenias claiming race on the exceptionally fast turf in Clairefontaine the 10th of July, 2020. Jockey Frida Valle SKAR insisted until the end to ensure the place for owner Marie-Carmel NAIM. The horse was not claimed.
We are very pleased to announce that we have signed to purchase a stable in Lamorlaye (Chantilly) and will be moving in September. Our new yard is perfectly located midway between the fabulous Le Lion training gallop and the Lamorlaye tracks, which include a top-class turf and all-weather facilities. We will be expanding to a yard of 36 boxes on a hectare of property that will include paddocks..
Our new yard at 21 rue Charles Pratt in Lamorlaye, France.
We’ll be adding some improvements to the new yard, but it is already in great shape to start work from September, and we are very much looking forward to the next chapter in our adventure. It is difficult to leave Maisons-Laffitte after more than 20 years here, but we have found that our operation has outgrown both our yard and the facilities available here. This move will allow us to step up to the next level.
Looking Back:
MINNIPA, acquired in a claiming race in Cagnes-sur-Mer, gave us our first win after the quarantine with an impressive gate-to-post gallop in Dieppe. Unfortunately, she couldn’t confirm that outing in a Quinte handicap a month later because of a muscle enzyme issue, but we’re doing some diagnostics this week and hope to have her on the path to recovery soon. .
ASIAN QUEEN progressed nicely to take a place in a claimer that was her third career start and gave her a handicap mark. She found the going too tough at St. Cloud so will head back to the claiming ranks next week in Clairefontaine.
MY SWEET BOY is still a work in progress as well. He took another place in a handicap in Dieppe, but then struggled in St. Cloud, partially because we had to change jockeys at the last minute because Mickael Barzalona was injured. Hopefully Barza gets back on board next time.
Looking Ahead:
After a very long absence, owners and spectators will be allowed back to the racecourse from July 11. We’re happy things are finally opening up. Hopefully it will stay that way.
This move comes just in time for the Vichy festival, which takes place from July 20 to 24 this year. We plan to have runners every day of the festival, and we’re looking forward to getting back together with those of you who can make it down to Vichy.
Arrivals and Departures:
We claimed L’AIDA, a two-year-old Dabirsim filly who was a winner in Dieppe on her third start, for a partnership of Susanne Born, Roger Straus, Kay Minton and David Crompton. She seems to be a lovely little horse and will run in the same category of claimers, starting at the Vichy festival.
DUBAI EMPIRE, meanwhile, was claimed from us and is now with his new connections. We’ll miss him because he was a kind and great-looking horse, but he has been frustrating of late and seems to have lost his taste for racing. Perhaps he’ll find it again in different surroundings.
Coming Up:
STARSTRUCK makes her first appearance since quarantine on Tuesday in Clairefontaine.
QUIET ZAIN runs his comeback race on Thursday at Longchamp. The distance of 2,100 meters might prove a little sharp for him, but it should let us see how his fitness is doing.
ASIAN QUEEN runs a claimer at Clairefontaine on Friday.
ABORIGENE and MISTER MARIO are back in action on July 13 at St. Cloud, and SPACE ACE is holding an entry for a comeback race there as well.
We’ll be having a full slate of entries for Vichy as well, so stay tuned!
After a very long two months of quarantine, racing in France is BACK ON as of Monday!
Racing returns to Longchamp on Monday, May 11.
It was touch-and-go for a while, and we almost had a last-minute change of heart from the government, but we are now cleared to start again.
We won’t be wasting any time: We have two runners on opening day at Longchamp. Aborigene and Mister Mario will run in the 9th and 10th races of the day. Aborigene has been banging down the door to race – he’s put just about everyone off in the past couple of weeks, including me! The saying in France is “un chute appel un gagnant, » or « a fall brings a winner,” so we’re due. Mister Mario is having his first race back since he was brought down in Chantilly; he had a short break and might be missing a bit of work, but he’s still looking well and might surprise us.
Both horses will have to contend with the ground, which might be on the soft side after a deluge of rain in the past 24 hours. Hoping for Aborigene’s sake it isn’t a bog, because he hates that. Mario might not care so much.
Our third runner of the week was eliminated for St. Cloud on Tuesday. This is something we’ll have to contend with because there is a severe backlog of horses needing to race, and more are eliminated than get in at the moment. We might end up running some less-than-ideal entries just to get them moving again, but we’ll take it as it comes.
The best news is that while other countries have cut back drastically on prize money, France has managed to maintain a large share of the allocations on offer. An initial plan to cut all prize money by 20 percent sparked a revolution among owners and trainers, and the syndicates representing these groups held France Galop’s feet to the fire, and they came up with a better plan.
Prize money for all races with a value of 19,000 euros or less will remain at 100 percent. Races offering more money than that will be cut back 15 percent, but there will be no Premium races run for less than 19,000 euros total. And the prize money will stay at the first five; they won’t rob Peter to pay Paul down to 150 euros for 10tth place, which had been part of the original plan.
Now we’ll have to hope that everything runs smoothly so that we can keep the racing program going. We have a very strict set of rules for now: No owners or breeders are allowed on the course, and the yard is allowed one lad per horse and the trainer, but no one else. We have to give the names and arrival times of all staff, and everyone must wear masks the entire time. This will not be an easy rule to follow, but we absolutely must so that racing going forward is not jeopardized.
Here’s what our entries look like going forward – keep in mind that entries might not pan out because of eliminations or other circumstances:
Monday, 18 May, Chantilly: Asian Queen, My Sweet Boy
Thursday, 21 May, Longchamp: Dubai Empire, My Sweet Boy
Monday, 25 May, St. Cloud: El Viso, Asian Queen
Tuesday, 26 May, Dieppe: Space Ace, Minnipa
Saturday, 30 May, St. Cloud: Dubai Empire
When the quarantine started, we kept just six horses in the yard and sent most out to Kimara (Horsefield Aquacenter) for either a break or for her to keep them ticking along in the country. We brought back five nearly three weeks ago, and we’ll bring back another four this coming week. Some of the horses need a break and some didn’t, really, but we made sure to do what’s best for the horses and what was best to keep training bills down until we knew when racing would start again.
That approach might put us a couple of weeks behind some of the yard that kept the horses moving the entire time, but I think this was a good approach and sets us up well for the coming months.
Other exciting news:
As many of you are aware, we have put our yard in Maisons-Laffitte up for sale and have scouted a property in Lamorlaye we hope to buy. We can’t say too much more yet because the deal isn’t done, but we will update you with more news as soon as we can. We have been in Maisons-Laffitte for more than 20 years and it was a very difficult decision to make, but we believe this decision will allow us to step up to the next level of the game. Stay tuned – exciting times ahead!
A snapshot of our current roster:
Dubai Empire (5 YO gelding) has stayed in training during quarantine and hopefully has put the setback of a stone bruise behind him. He looks great and should be back to racing soon.
El Viso (4 YO gelding) also stayed in training and has entries in a couple of weeks. Asian Queen (3 YO filly) has stayed in training and is desperate to build on her racing debut which happened right before quarantine. Looking forward to getting her out soon.
Aborigene (4 YO gelding) had a short break and is now more than ready for his comeback race in Longchamp tomorrow. Shame about the turn in the ground!
Mister Mario (4 YO gelding) had a three-week break that he deserved after surviving a horrific fall in Chantilly. He seems to have put that completely behind him and while he might be missing a canter or two, he should run a good race at Longchamp.
Myklachi(4 YO gelding) has come back from a long winter break and is looking very much the better for it. He was found to have some bruising in his knees last fall so never was able to debut for us. He seems definitely in form now and should be about a month away from a race.
My Sweet Boy (3 YO gelding) never got the chance to run for us yet because we claimed him just before quarantine. He was thwarted again when eliminated for a race in St. Cloud this week, but he has backup entries on the horizon. Looking forward to seeing him out!
Ray Jr. (not his official name – 2 YO gelding) has come into full training now and seems to be an absolutely lovely horse, which is not a surprise given his family. He’s a very big boy, though, already measuring 1.58 meters, so he’ll likely need plenty of time.
Miss Mimi (also not her official name! – 2 YO filly) is now back in pre-training with Kimara Hoste, who tells us she’s changing every day for the better. We’ll see if she’s ready to come in for more intense work in a month or two.
Minnipa(3YO filly) had a break during quarantine and is now back up to cantering. Hopefully she’ll be ready to run by the end of the month, but she might need a week or two more.
Space Ace (3 YO filly) is in the same situation as Minnipa, so we’ll have to let her tell us when she’s ready to go. Both fillies came back from vacation in good order, but Minnipa seems more advanced physically than Space Ace, who is missing muscle on her topline after another growth spurt. She now stands 1.60 and is quite a big girl!
Pantomime (8 YO mare) went on break after a slight injury when she “lost” her hind end on a turn in the track. It appeared to be a muscle pull and she seems in good order now. She’s had two weeks on the aquatrainer after her break in the field and should come back to full training next week.
Quiet Zain (6 YO gelding) also had some time on the aquatrainer after a break and is ready to come back to work. He had a nagging foot injury that showed up in Cagnes and we are hoping that’s behind him now. The forced break will have done him good.
Starstruck(4 YO filly) went on a break after tying up during a routine canter. Not sure why this happened because she’s not prone to it, and she seems to be absolutely fine now. She’ll come back this week.
Folle Passion (5 YO gelding) had a break and now is in light work with Kimara. He will come back with Starstruck this week. Both of these horses prefer soft ground, so it’s not an ideal time for a comeback, but they are both in form so we will have to see what the weather brings us.
Hermano Bello and Kaillistos(3 YO geldings) were both colts when the left the yard and will come back as geldings, which means we can get down to more serious work! Both are in light work with Kimara and we’ll bring them back when they are ready for more intense work, probably in two to three weeks.
Shares in Ray Jr., Miss Mimi and Myklachi are still available, so let us know if you’re interested!
LAST MINUTE We’ve just gotten word that all the video from Equidia is being offered for free. So go to the web site or download the Equidia app on your phone. You might be stuck at home rather than at the track, but you can follow along easier now!
The front facing side of the Gallop France stable, Maisons-Laffitte.
Beautiful stable on 2000 m², with a main building of 18 boxes and the living area upstairs. It is made up of two large apartments, one recently and nicely renovated. A 3 rd party extension can also be converted into apartments. The equestrian facilities also offer a walker and a large storage area. This stable will be suitable for an owners and sports stable project or a racing stable project.
Un part de 25% est toujours disponible dans notre deux ans de EXOSPHERE par Risque de Verlas, une jument de black-type par Verglas. Ce poulain, qui est éligible pour les prémiums Français, est par une famille gagnant, et il est le frère de notre Ray of Hope, qui a gagné 7 fois pour des allocations de plus de 200,000 dans son carrier.
N Risque de Verglas
Le prix d’un part est de 12 000 euros. Il devrait être prêt a courir a la rentrée.
A 25% share is still available of our EXOSPHERE yearling out of Risque de Verlas, a stakes-winning Verglas mare. This gelding, eligible for French premiums, is from a winning family, and he’s a half-brother to our own Ray of Hope, who has won seven times with earnings of over 200,000 euros.
N Risque de Verglas
The price of the share is 10,500 euros, which includes his gelding and boarding costs through the end of December. We expect him to be ready to run around September 2020.
Quiet Zain, ridden by Mickael Barzalona, winning the Quinte Prix du Palais du Tokyo at Longchamp.
Quiet Zain (Youmzain out of a Sulamani mare), a six-year-old two-time Quinte winner, carries Bryan Gusdal’s colors. Effective on any ground or surface, QZ is a bulldozer of a horse who runs 2,400 meters and possibly longer. He will make his Cagnes debut on either Jan. 14 or Jan. 18.
Pantomime, ridden by Mickael Barzalona, winning the Prix du Gazon d’Acheres in Maisons-Laffitte
Pantomime (Mastercraftsman out of a Green Desert mare), now eight years old, runs for Paul Philippeau, Brian Dunn, Kay Minton and Roger Straus. She’s a big grey mare who runs from the front and wants either top of the ground or fibersand. Can run anything from 2,400 and longer. Nicely placed at 28 in the handicaps, she’ll start on Jan. 20.
Prix Bouches du Rhone winner’s circle
Prix Canebiere: Mickael Forest
Ray’s wins at Cagnes-sur-Mer, 2019.
Ray of Hope (Layman out of a Verglas mare) loves Cagnes, and at age 10, he’ll be having his final season in the sun. Ray has won five handicaps in Cagnes sur Mer and if he wins one more, he’ll hold the record! He’s ready to go for it! He’s a great horse and he certainly isn’t showing his age. He is a specialist at 2,000 meters on the fibersand. He carries a 28.5 rating into the meeting and will start on Jan. 21.
