Unique Quick claims the Critérium Des 3 Ans

Publié le par Kristin Odegard Kristin Odegard

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After the races in Hong Kong Sunday morning, racing fans could just stay tuned in front of the television and watch the races from Vincennes with the best three year-olds, in their generations most wanted race : le Critérium Des 3 ans and first the Prix Octave Douesnel with some great 4 year-old colts.

Treskool Du Caux wins the Prix Octave Douesnel for driver and trainer Tony Le Beller and owner Jacques Villetorte.

At two o’clock, the four year-olds were at post. Trésor Wic, the less experienced colt tok the lead. He was attacked succesivly by Thorens Vedaquais, and Treskool Du Caux, he never let go of the lead. Tison Madrik came very fast in the last turn but galloped. Treskool Du Caux and Tresor Wic fought for victory, Treskool Du Caux won quite in front of Tabby Point and Tabler who was very fast in the final stretch. Trésor Wic made his trainer Laurent Simon very happy, he has always considered him but that was before an enquiry was opened on Tempo, Thorens Vedaquais and Trésor Wic. This inquiry generated dramatic consequences in the group one. The three horses were disqualified for irregular trot. The juges are getting very strict these days, but that’s another question… It was actually really sad for Trésor Wic, he resisted several attacks the whole way, he was really tough! And as number one, he was the horse with the less experience and earning, it was a nice bet to enter this race against the best horses of his generation. He should be redeemed very soon. So the final order was Treskool Du Caux, Tabby Point, Tabler and Tonkin de Bellouet, all the others were disqualified. Previous winners of the race are champions like Ready Cash and Jag De Bellouet, to quote only recent editions. These young stars have a nice future, to start with the Critérium Continental for Treskool Du Caux.

Unique Quick is crowned best french three year-old.

An hour and eight minutes later… the Critérium Des 3 Ans. For a three year old it is the most prestigious race to win. For a future stallion it is a very important race. Thierry Duvaldestin was the best equipped trainer; he presented four of his horses: Union D’Urzy, Uniclove, Uaukir and Urgèle. They had some trouble deciding how much weight Uaukir should have on his feet, Franck Nivard even went to the stable and put on an extra pair of boot just a couple of minutes before the start. He had no luck with this complicated but very talented horse, winner of the Critérium Des Jeunes; Uaukir galloped several times. Meanwhile Union D’Urzy took the lead for a while. Then I taught she would stay in front all the way and win, she has been brilliant recently. But a relay race started, Uniclove took over and stayed in the lead for a while too, he has been as good as Union D’Urzy so this looked good! But 1400m left Unique Quick and Franck Leblanc took the lead. When he took the lead, he strongly disturbed Uniclove and Thierry Duvaldestin. For this disruption Franck Leblanc only got suspended for four days (and he drives quite rarely…) and the victory was worth 120 000€… He was a quite surprising winner… Un Amour D’Haufor finished well but a too late to threaten Unique Quick in front of Une Lady En Or who never gave up and concluded very fast. Upper Class and Johanna Lindqvist were very happy with their race; Upper Class shows that one can always count on her. She is Ready Cash’s full sister, her brother won this race in 2008. Uraki Des Sarts is very popular because of his nice history, he finished 5th. Union D’Urzy, 6th was the best Duvaldestin, Urgèle was 8th, Uaukir wasn’t placed and Uniclove was disqualified. Timoko’s record remains unbeaten, 1’12’6, yesterday they went 1’14’1. Richard Westerink’s champion might not be seen again this winter as he has Borrelia.

C’est un Crack!

Publié le par Alexis Levy Alexis Levy

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Je me suis souvent demandé ce qu’était un Crack. Et depuis peu, je me demande ce que je répondrai à mon jeune fils (vu l’assiduité avec laquelle il encourage les dadas devant la télé ou sur le champ, cela devrait arriver assez vite…) s’il me posait la question.

- Dis, c’est quoi un Crack ?

- et bien c’est évident voyons, enfin… un Crack c’est un champion !

- ok mais pour quoi ne pas dire champion alors ?

- ben… parce que un Crack, il a quelque chose en plus !

- quoi ?

- et bien… il n’est pas comme les autres….

- pourquoi ?

- parce que….

et la on cale…ou alors on balance un truc, très sûr de soi, mais à la même question un autre répondra autre chose, tout aussi sûr de lui…

C’est comme ça… un crack ça ne se définit pas, ou alors de façon très subjective…

C’est marrant mais pour ceux qui connaissent un peu le langage yiddish, il existe un mot auquel on a tout autant de mal à coller une définition nette : un Mensch. En fait c’est un mec droit, honnête, courageux, possédant toute les qualités humaines mais avec un truc en plus, indéfinissable mais tellement évident… le questionnaire ci-dessus aurait pu coller parfaitement au Mensch !

Bref, tout ça pour dire qu’on n’ a pas besoin d’expliquer ce qu’est un crack et pourquoi un champion en est un : ça coule de source…

Enfin…. quand même, et là, je me fais un auto contre-pied, samedi (j’étais au plateau à Vincennes) je me suis tout d’un coup dit que j’avais trouvé ma réponse…

Pendant le triomphe de Ready Cash dans le Bourbonnais j’ai senti quelque chose en plus que d’habitude…

Ca venait confirmer ce qu’on avait vu dans le Bretagne, en plus fort encore, plus évident : toute la course (en fait à partir des 1000m, quand les choses sérieuses commencent) sa victoire était inéluctable. Non pas parce que je le sentais au dessus du lot (il l’est depuis longtemps), non pas parce qu’il avait le bon parcours…

Non, en fait c’était juste parce que je n’avais pas peur, plus peur. Plus peur qu’il se mette à brancher, plus peur que la mécanique déraille, plus peur qu’il se relâche, qu’il se trompe…plus peur de rien !

Il n’avait même plus eu ce besoin si particulier d’être accompagné par un de ses comparses vers le départ. Il flottait sur sa course comme un parfum de zenitude…

Et là je me suis dit : ouais mon pote tu es en train de voir celui qui est peut être LE crack de toute ta carrière de journaliste !

Et ça c’était parce que j’avais l’impression qu’il ne pouvait rien lui arriver. J’étais dans un état de béatitude tranquille, avec ce sentiment d’être un veinard convié aux premiers rangs d’un spectacle grandiose dont il connaît la fin, et qui peut donc se concentrer sur la performance plus que sur la dramaturgie.

Je ne sais pas du tout si c’est comme cela que l’entourage du cheval a vécu la course. Peut être pas, puisque eux ont évidemment quelque chose à gagner ou à perdre dans l’histoire.

Mais pour moi c’était cela : ce sentiment que rien ne pouvait lui arriver, que c’était écrit à mi-course. C’était la première fois que je ressentais cela à l’occasion d’une course de Ready Cash.

Donc là c’était bon, je pouvais me le dire, le dire, me lâcher sans plus me poser de questions : c’est un Crack, un immense Crack !

D’autres le sentaient depuis longtemps, sûrement à raison d’ailleurs, mais moi j’ai attendu samedi.

Parce que j’ai ressenti ce petit truc en plus, très personnel.

Alors, fiston, si plus tard tu me poses la question…

- Dis,  c’est quoi un crack ?

- et bien c’est évident voyons, enfin… un crack c’est un champion !

- ok mais pour quoi ne pas dire champion alors ?

- ben… parce que un crack il a quelque chose en plus !

- quoi ?

- et bien… il n’est pas comme les autres….

- pourquoi ?

- parce que….. même pas peur !

 

Tchao les amis et bonne semaine !

 

Ready Cash : the one and only!

Publié le par Kristin Odegard Kristin Odegard

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Saturday was an exciting day at Vincennes with both prep races for the Prix D’Amérique and the Prix De Vincennes. Here is a summary of the main events. 

Ready Cash impressive in the Prix Du Bourbonnais.

The highlight of the day was the Prix Du Bourbonnais, the second prep race for the Prix D’Amérique. Ready Cash had a 25m handicap because of his high earnings; this handicap normally makes this task difficult. But a real champion can overcome anything, no? Well Ready Cash was just amazing! He took a great start, waited followed Severino and then won with a lot of confidence, no one could follow him, he won easily. Severino put up a nice fight but the big difference between the two horses is that Christian Bigeon was quite demanding with his partner (who answered really well!) and Frank Nivard was just sitting still letting Ready Cash do the job. Roxane Griff did a great race, as always! It is a pity she got a bit stuck or she would probably have been fighting with Ready Cash and Severino. Private Love, last years winner did a good race with Anthony Barrier in the sulky. Punchy impressed me, he is always in the action, no matter the category, the track or the distance! What a tough little horse! The Scandinavian horses weren’t very lucky. Iceland was first three wide for nearly the whole race and got a bit tired. I heard that Tamla Celeber was preparing the Critérium Continental; she will be ready with the race she got Saturday. She started fast and took the lead; laid three wide until out of the last turn and weakened. Beanie M.M. was the best of the Swedish horses, he is a really tall (1m68) beautiful entire. He got a bit unlucky laying in the second half of the field, he tried to follow Ready Cash and Severino but Save The Quick was pulled out in front of him but none of them managed to follow Severino and Ready Cashs speed. Beanie M.M. had to go around his tired rivals to get a 7th place. It was a pity because he finished well, he didn’t look tired but he was quite far behind the whole time. I really hope he will race in France again, I think he has things to do here! At least for the places because I don’t think anyone can beat Ready Cash… I met Beanie M.M.s trainer Morten Waage and he hadn’t yet decided what the horse will do next.

In the Prix Narquois a group three for 5 year olds, Sogo showed style! It was only the third race since February, first time he finshed 7th, a couple of weeks ago he was second behind Sud in the Prix Des Chenonceaux, now it was his turn. Sogo is a good horse, he had some health problems after last winter, that’s why he hasn’t raced much; he has only raced 17 time, his rivals have raced between 30 and 40 times already. Looking forward to the Prix De Bourgogne in two weeks time!

Sir De Banville opened the day, winning the Prix Des Seiches-sur-le-Loir, a group three under saddle over 2175m. Sir De Banville was ridden by Ludovic Mollard, he is trained by Jean-Michel Bazire. There was a long fight between Sir De Banville and Jean Lucks Sakura Jiel, the gelding beat the mare on the finish line. November, 17th Sakura Jiel beat Sir De Banville with a nose, there is little to choose between these horses, they both went 1’13’4.

In the next race, the Prix Ariste Hémard, a group two for four year-old fillies over the “classic distance” : 2700m the two same trainers fought the first places. Tamara Jiel also races for Jean Lucks colours, she is trained by Jean-Luc Dersoir and she was droven by Jos Verbeeck. Tequila Berry was second, she took the lead in the final stretch but was beaten by Tamara Jiel who finished really fast. They both did a good time over the distance : 1’14’2. This race is an important race for the fillies in the winter-meeting. It is a prestigious race, before 2004 the race was open for colts and foreign horses. Varenne won the Prix Ariste Hémard in 1999, other foreigners Naglo, Gigant Neo, General November also got their names in the honour list. Excellent horses like Ténor De Beaune, Arnaqueur, Défi D’Aunou, Giant Cat and Jag De Bellouet have also won this race … Nowadays the equivalent for colts is the Prix Octave Douesnel.

Un Gergaud and David Thomain

The Prix Raoul Ballière, a group two for three year-olds under saddle was also very interesting. It was an easy win for Un Gergaud. Daniel Bethouart has some nice horses at the moment! Un Gergaud won his third consecutive race at Vincennes, he has raced only 8 times (for 4 victories). But unfortunately I heard that Un Gergaud hurt himself after the race, so I’m not sure when we will see him again… Un Tresor did a nice race but wasn’t a threat to the winner. Up Market and Up Lady finished near each other in front of Un Team De Nacre. I really like Un Team de Nacre, (especially since his trainer is one of my best friends). The horse is very good but he is a bit irregular and he showed that he could run against the best in spite of his very slow start. These horses will be seen again in the Prix De Vincennes.