This week-end will have quality racing all over Europe !
Saturday in Wolvega (The Netherlands) Nuit Torride is racing her last race before retiring to stud in Prijs Der Giganten (2100m car start). Last year she ran in the Prix D’Amérique but in a few weeks she will reach the age limit for racing, 10 years old in France. Russel November preferred this race to the Prix de Bretagne. Norginio, last years winner will therefore face a good field this year.
1 NUIT TORRIDE Bernard Piton
2 RUSSEL NOVEMBER Hugo Langeweg
3 YANATIN BOKO Hugo Langeweg jr
4 SIR KARAN Roland Hulskath
5 ORSO NOVEMBER Michael Schmid
6 COPPER BEECH Conrad Lugauer
7 MICRO MESH Adrian Kolgjini
8 ARMSTRONG AS Rick Wester
9 ZORBA OLDESON Rob de Vlieger
10 NORGINIO Nico d´Haenens
In Montegiorgio the traditional Palio Dei Comuni takes place Sunday. The conditions are quite particular : Three elimination heats with 8 horses in each over the mile, the first 4 of each heat qualify for the final. A big village fair is held on Ippodromo San Paolo with also guided tours and different shows. The particularity is that every competing horse represents a village of the region of Umbria, Marche and Abruzzo, so this day is a popular event. I think it’s great to make everyone participate and it’s a good way of sharing horse-racing passion. The eliminations bear the name of the past winners of the race. Renommée D’Obret is in great form and handled racing in heats very well in Cesena when winning the Campionato Europeo. Her trainer Philippe-Emmanuel Trible likes racing her on the mile, and she is one of France’s fastest horses. She will race against 2010 winner Mack Grace SM. It’s a funny fact that he is running in the race bearing his name !
The tough Punchy is racing a lot at the moment and he will meet Gran Premio D’Europa winner Negresco Milar and Freccia D’Europa surprise Locomotion OM in the second heat.
Swedish Calamara Donna also gave a nice performance for her first try in heats in Germany mid-October. In this final heat she will meet Linda Di Casei who raced well against Renommée D’Obret in Cesena and French O’Sullivan was recently victorious in Belgium with the « belgian devil » Jos Verbeeck that time too.
I BATTERIA PREMIO MACK GRACE SM
1 RENOMMEE D’OBRET Pierre Vercruysse
2 MAESTRALE SPIN Mario Minopoli Jr
3 MIGUEL WF Giampaolo Minnucci
4 MACK GRACE SM Enrico Belle
5 LEMON ICE Alessandro Gocciadoro
6 MONDIAL GAR Lucio Becchetti
7 SKULLY GULLY Andrea Guzzinati
8 MANON BIGI Maurizio Sibilla
II BATTERIA PREMIO OPAL VIKING
1 MONDIALE OK Roberto Andreghetti
2 MARIMARI Pietro Gubellini
3 NEGRESCO MILAR MarcoGuzzinat
4 HAVING SAID THAT Christian Lindhard
5 LOCOMOTION OM Tommaso Di Lorenzo
6 PUNCHY Jean Boillereau
7 I AM GRIF Fabrizio Ciulla
8 LADY DEL PINO Paolo Leoni
III BATTERIA PREMIO TORVALD PALEMA
1 LIMBO DEI VENTI Lucio Becchetti
2 CALAMARA DONNA Örjan Kihlström
3 LINDA DI CASEI Alessandro Gocciadoro
4 LOVER POWER Pietro Gubellini
5 NEWYORK NEWYORK Lorenzo Baldi
6 O’SULLIVAN Jos Verbeeck
7 ILLUSION DANY Tommaso Di Lorenzo
8 TESIO Mario Minopoli Jr.
The Group III Prix Des Cevennes was the meeting’s first race for older horses, and allowed trainer Sebastien Guarato to register a nice double with Roxane Griff and Reve De Beylev. The mare has enjoyed a fabulous year so far, winning 5 group races and the black colt Reve De Beylev has made his way to top level. He was twice beaten by the champion Commander Crowe and finished third in the Grand Prix du Conseil Général des Alpes in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1’09’5 over the mile. The Normandy trainer is very confident with his two 6 year olds, he’s aiming for the Prix D’Amérique with them. The first prep race for the Prix Du Cornulier, the group II Prix Reynolds was also on the opening day. A lot was expected of the geldings Roi Du Lupin and Quemeu D’Ecublei since they’re not eligible to race the Cornulier but they were beaten by the 8 year-old entire Picsou De Villabon who made a great impression.
The Prix Marcel Laurent was the highlight of November10th, a group II over 2100m autostart for 4 and 5 year olds. Timoko was the talk of the day but unfortunately he was a non-runner because of a fever, Hopefully he’ll be back soon! As a norwegian I was looking forward to « the queen » Tamla Celeber’s first race in France. Both the trainer Roger Walmann and her driver Örjan Kihlström told me they would give her a nice race to see how she handles Vincennes. She duly had a nice race and finished 6th. The winner was Main Wise As, his driver Pierre Vercruysse was very happy with his partners race and said Main Wise As is good enough to line up in the Prix D’Amérique.This could be some kind of sign since Ready Cash won the Prix Marcel Laurent last year before winning the Prix D’Amérique… The Christian Bigeon trained Severino sprinted nicely to 2nd place and will probably have another try in the Prix D’Amérique this year ; he finished 6th in the last edition.
This Monday there was also an interesting group II, the Prix Louis Tillaye, 2700m monté for 3 year olds, a prep race for Group I Prix De Vincennes over the same distance on December 25th. Unfortuately the leader of the generation Uppercut Du Rib, winner of 2 group I races (Prix Des Elites, Prix D’Essai) is injured and might never be able to race again. Everything pointed to Up Market, winner of the Group I « St Leger Des Trotteurs » in Caen in May. He raced behind the leader Urfée de Fresny and was a bit unlucky when this one got tired but finished in a nice 2nd place behind a quite surprising Uranus De Larre who was given a perfect race by Matthieu Abrivard waiting in the middle of the field and sprinting to an easy win. This is certainely Uranus De Larre ‘s best race, the Jasmin de Flore colt is trained in Orne departement by Nicolas Raimbeaux. Before the Prix De Vincennes, his next race will be the Prix Urgent in Vincennes on December 1st and should be followed eagerly.