So this happened: Overnight, Cruella – a 6-year-old mare – came up with a huge mammary gland infection. This is strange for a mare that is not lactating and has never been in foal, but there you go: 40.5 degree fever and a mammary the size of a testicle. Sometimes this stuff happens and nobody knows why. So we started her on antibiotics and dexamethasone, the anti-inflammatory wonder drug. She’s much better now!
Racing at Longchamp, May 30 2024
Melbora heads to Longchamp tonight for a twilight after-work race meeting. All the details are below.
MORHIB wins the Prix de la PINEDE
9ème(P/ 3525), Classe 3 — 03/05/2024 17h45, FONTAINEBLEAU
PLAT, 1800 mètres , Corde à GAUCHE , Terrain TR SOUPLE (4,0 )
Good boy, Morhib!! An easy winner in Fontainebleau. What a nice horse. He deserved to win last time out, so he got his due today. No luck for Cruella, who finished behind him, but we have a plan to change strategy for her next time out. Stay tuned.
HANDICAP CATEG DIVISE
Pour chevaux entiers, hongres et juments de 4 ans et au-dessus.
Seront qualifiés dans cette épreuve, les chevaux auxquels le handicapeur aura attribué une valeur inférieure ou égale à 29 k.
Bitless!
I have to say I’m not ready yet to go galloping off on a racehorse with a bitless bridle just yet, but William Micklem did inspire me to take a (calm!) test ride with one a couple of weeks ago.
I’m still a fan of a simple snaffle to do what we need to do, but I can see why this might be an option for a horse with a sore mouth or a tooth issue.
Have a look and tell me what you think!
Read more about William MICKLEM at his website: https://www.williammicklem.com/home.html
Thanks for watching! Please subscribe 👍
Jack O’Boy wins again!
Jack O’Boy(Anodin) comes up with the goods at Longchamp – again! Drawn in gate 15, he did what he does: Ran the race he wanted to run. They went off a little too quick for him, so he relaxed an waited for a chance in the stretch. He was second the last two times over this same course, so it’s nice to see him get the win today. Thank you to his owners, our team, and our farrier, who has done wonders for this horse!
It was a good day at the office
Today in Compiegne we came away with excellent results. Six-year-old Crisalsa showed that he could still do it taking the win in his mile handicap for horses four-years-old and older.
Running on holding turf, the gelding came out on top of the 14 runner field. Stephane Pasquier, his long-time jockey came out ahead of the field in the stretch perfectly.
Cruella de Vil was not to be out done, as she came second in her race, The five-year-old mare handled all but one of the field of 18 runners in this mile handicap.
Although he didn’t take a check this day, Ak Ishan(Recorder) continued to show his improvement finishing sixth in his mile-and-a-half handicap for four-year-old horses. We’re looking for good things from him this year.
First winner of the year is Magic!
It’s Magic (Morandi) bested a 15-runner field handicap in Chantilly to win his comeback race after a winter break from a grueling 2022 schedule. This marks his first win on his 20th career start, his 16th start for our yard.
Jockey Pierre Bazire gave Magic a perfect ride in the 1900 meter race on the synthetic track. The gate position of 14 was one of the worst in the race, but Magic broke well and was quickly out in front. Pierre then settled him behind the front runners, one off of the rail, in a perfect position in the peloton.
In the home stretch, Pierre moved to an opening on the rail and with 150 meters left took the lead, fighting off a late challenge by Salies to win by a half a length.
The joys of owning your own stable – water leak!
Horses available
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.
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.
Contact us for further information.
grarick@gallopfrance.com
July racing update
July was a very busy month at the yard. Avenue du Monde (Champs-Elysees) ran her final race, we attended the Tattersalls Horses in Training sales in Newmarket, two new horses entered the yard from claiming races – Never Compromise (Astronomer Royal) and Surewecan (Royal Applause) – and we ran the racing festival in Vichy.
Avenue du Monde’s last race
Avenue du Monde’s last race before becoming a broodmare was in Vichy on the 20th of the month, the last day of the festival. We were hoping that she would drop to the third division of the handicap that day but ended up in the second with Grey Sensation (Aussie Rules) and Gascon (Heliostatic). Gascon proved to be the best of the three on the day finishing a good second while Grey picked up fourth and Avenue was just out of the money at sixth. By then, we were running on a turf that was well worn from the week of racing and the heavy rain that fell the Monday before and again that day.
Ray Of Hope finds his form
Earlier in the month, we took Ray of Hope (Layman) back to Deauville and the fibersand and he ran much better than his previous outing at Longchamp. This time picking up second place, one of two that he would run this month.
Further notable runs included Gascon again, finishing fifth at Compiegne, Never Compromise was seventh in a Quinte handicap and Mr. Chuckles (Arcano) adding a seventh in the second division of that same Quinte handicap.
The Mickaëls – Forest, and Barzalona – did most of the riding except for Mr. Chuckles who was ridden by Delphine Santiago and Maxime Guyon who rode Gascon in Compiegne.
The best paying horse in July was Ray of Hope with his second place on 4 July, paying €9,90 for a one euro place bet.