Turfani in, Versaki out

Turfani made it into the second division of the Tierce handicap on Thursday in Deauville, but Veraki was eliminated for his claimer, which is really too bad because he is kicking down the door to run. We will try to get him into Amiens next week, but that’s not nearly as good a race for him as the Deauville one would have been. I’m pleased Turfani gets to take her shot, though. It’s a 1,900-meter race, which is a good distance for her, but it is an open handicap this time, so the competition is tough. Flavien Prat will ride. The jockey situation was a bit of a mess; I had entered a race last week and was going to put up Mathias Sautjeau, a jockey I like working with, but then I decided to wait and run this week. Sautjeau thought he was still getting the ride, but I went with Prat because I thought we were going to have 52 kilos, which is impossible for Sautjeau. In the end, we will carry 55.5, so Sautjeau could have rode. Too late, already went with Prat (who is a fine young jockey, too, but I do like Sautjeau).  Their agents are all annoyed at the switching around, but they’ll get over it. I have to remember that they would drop me in a heartbeat if they thought they could put their guy up on a better chance. Prat is fresh off a stint at Santa Anita; I’ll have to remind him to remember he’s now back in France, and we don’t want to see the first quarter faster than the last!