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 5^th. Union D’Urzy, 6th was the best Duvaldestin, Urgèle was 8^th, 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.

The days at Vincennes just get better and better! There is fabulous racing absolutely everyday!

Prix Paul Buquet

The Prix Paul Buquet had a dramatic arrival; Riglorieux Du Bois acutally won easily but was disqualified after inquiry. This international group two race over 2850m is a prep race for the Prix De Cornulier even though it was open for geldings and 10 year-olds. Geldings aren’t eligible to race the world’s biggest monté race and today’s 10 year-olds will be 11 in the beginning of 2012 and will be too old to keep on competing in France. 10 year-old mare, Nuit Torride made a come-back under saddle in this “semi-classic” but was disqualified from her 5^th place after inquiry. The three first places went to monté champions: Roi Du Lupin, Risque Tout and Quemeu D’Ecublei.
Sadly, these three horses are geldings and won’t be seen in the big race!

Le Cannibale

Vincennes hosted another group two race last Saturday, the Prix Doynel De
Saint-Quentin over 2850m. Only eleven horses were entered in this European race.
Le Cannibale, named with the nick-name of his father Jag De Bellouet,
recently arrived in Fabrice Souloy’s training, from Stig H Johansson, made
a great impression. He won in 1’15’0, in front of Stefan Melander’s Oracle and Sancho Turgot. Three horses that were expected to race well did not manage to follow Le Cannibale. These are: Critérium des 5 ans winner: Scoop D’Yvel, Prix Jockey winner: Son alezan and the Swedish horse Caballion. Le Cannibale will probably have a successful winter.

Un Poco Loco and Yann Gérard win the Coupe Inter-Régionale Des 3 Ans.

Vincennes hosted a top-class meeting again on Sunday. The Coupe Inter-Régionale Des 3 Ans is a group three race over 2700m. Twelve horses were qualified to race the final. This race is the final of a tournament for three year-olds, the
qualifying races are regional and they take place on tracks all over France. The horses qualify to the final at Vincennes with a point system. Un Poco Loco is not crazy as his name could say! He waited patiently in fourth place and placed his sprint out of the final curve leaving no chance for his rivals to follow him. Unabella Perrine just did a winning come-back giving Charles-Antoine Mary his 100^th win as a driver finished well to second place. Uranie Lorraine was the leader throughout the race, driven confidently by Jean-Michel Bazire didn’t manage to do the same performance as her last race. She won with about 10 lenghts but on Sunday she was third.

The Prix Philippe Du Rozier is a group two under saddle over 2175m. It has seen a lot of great winners such as: Queila Gédé, Vivier De Montfort, Kerido Du Donjon, Miss Castelle or more recently Singalo. Eric Raffin won the last three editions of the race but this year’s edition was won by Nathalie Henry and Trotting Race. Nathalie Henry hadn’t won a race at this level and hadn’t been riding much either since the birth of her first child, Chloé. It felt good to see Nathalie back at top level! Trotting Race is trained by Jean Baudron and owned by Ecurie D. She is by Goetmals Wood, the best stallion in France. Tigresse Du Vivier was second and Tango Quick third.

Quif De Villeneuve, brilliant in the GNT.

The whole day was prestigious but the final of the Grand National Du Trot was the day’s big event. The trotting “Tour de France” took 13 stops on the
best race tracks in France and the most successful horses came to Vincennes for the final. Quif De Villeneuve had already won the tournament, he had 73 point and the second horse, Riktigt Gentil had 38 points… No surprise in the final: Quif De Villeneuve made the whole tournament his! He won with a 55 point advance. Quif De Villeneuve is a son of Coktail Jet, he is bred by Michel Royer and Séverine Raimond. Quif De Villeneuve is owned by Ecurie Augustin-Normand (and Franck Amar, Antonio De Sousa and Franck Leblanc). He is trained by Franck Leblanc since april. Until then Quif De Villeneuve was trained by Séverine Raimond (he won 16 races with her) but in april he was sold at the Trotting Promotion auction for 145 000€. He has already paid himself off twice! Franck Leblanc said they won’t cut corners and aim the Prix D’Amérique but he will probably be entered in the Prix De Paris, which suits his capacities better.

The amateurs have their tournament too, the Grand National des Amateurs. Like Quif De Villeneuve, Reach De Vandel dominated his tour. Reach De Vandel was bought at the Prix D’Amérique sales 2011 for 65 000€ by Pascal Garreau, he has been paid off too. He has won 15 races this year!

The four year-old had their Coupe Inter-régionale aswell, Eric Raffin continued his winning spree, winning the race with Trésor Du Breil.

Last Friday and Saturday, there were some very interesting races for two year-olds at Vincennes race track.

The Prix Ourasi was last Fridays attraction. It bears the name of the champion Ourasi, who won the Prix D’Amérique four times. It’s a group three race over 2200m. 4^th in the Prix Louis Cauchois (group three) last month, Valentin Du Gite won the race quite easily. Vif Lucernais is a tough two-year old, he took the second place. The two favourites had a bad day, Vaillant Cash galloped after 200m and Versus galloped later while he was in the lead.

The equivalent for fillies is the Prix Vourasie. Vourasie was Ourasi‘s sister. She was also an amazing race horse. She won the Prix De Paris three times and the Prix de France once; she also got a second place in the Prix D’Amérique.
In this race the favourites were deceiving too. The big favourite, Vipsie Griff didn’t manage to remain unbeaten. Sébastien Guarato’s filly lost
all her chances in her bad start. It looked like the victory would go to the
talented filly Via Josselyn but she galloped in the final stretch. Valse Du
Verne also had a good chance but galloped at the start of the race too. Vigogne Du Boulay (26/1) was lucky when her rivals lost all chances; she resisted Viscarias
attack and won the third race out of four races in her career.