ENGLISH TEXTS
Loire Anjou challenge winner Shawinigan for Patrice Quinton that won beating great du large who was having his second start after a injury and the favorite Klitchko de Belair back in third having been second on the listed grand cross at Croan the time before that. The beauty of this sport is that it really is horses for courses and each one can adapt and favour one racetrack more than the other. On this occasion the northeast Parisian track was favored the most by Klitchko de Belair. He delivered the knockout blow to his rivals rounding the home turning in to the final straight with a turn of foot, that couldn’ t be matched. to me this felt like a real coming of age performance and the talented chaser firmly announced himself on the Crystal Cup scene. He really could turn up anywhere, be it Cheltenham, Fontainebleau, Punchestown or possibly the Velka Pardubicka next October. How do you top that I hear you ask? Well, the following weekend staged the autumn highlight at Auteuil, the 48-hour d’ obstacle. With 5 group ones and 2 group twos of offer across the two days the quality was in abundance, only fitting for the Parisian center piece of French national hunt racing sat in the shadow of the Eiffel tower. The first group race was the Prix congress which started off with a bang as the 2 / 5 favorite Nador duly obliged by doing something a lot of people thought he wouldn’ t, take a lead, and battle in the finish. His trainers said afterwards they knew how tough he was and were delighted for the new part owner Alain Jathiere who’ d paid 200,000 euro for him before the race. Mr Jatheire also owned the second as well Duc de Roche who looked an exciting chaser for next year. Nador’ s winter plans are up in the air on whether he runs again but take notice, this is the best steeplechaser of his generation, and no one now can debate that. The following group two was the prix Magalen Bryant run in honor of the legendary owner. A competitive field of 11 threeyear-old fillies took to post including former group three winner from the spring Good Girl de Faust. On this occasion she had to settle for forth and will be seen best I believe on better ground. The big reputation horse was Delmegan, a half-sister to a super horse in Britain called Goshen, shed won her first two starts impressively including a listed race. A third to good girl de Faust was unexpected and surprising resulting in her trying a steeplechase on her autumn reappearance. Her young trainer Elizabeth Allaire felt she was then ready to return to hurdles and group company and she was rewarded with a second on the group three prix Magne behind Olga de Kiev whos trainer felt was good enough to take her chance in the group one against the boys on the Sunday. But when it mattered Delmegan got her heading in front and won her group race which is so important for the breeding shed and showcased once against the talent of young sire Goliath du berlais; Noire wolf was second for the George and Zetterholm team and looks a filly with a bright future if she continued to improve. The highlight was of course the grade one grand prix d’ automne over hurdles. There was a standout star in Losange bleu for trainer Dominic bressou and Patrick Papot. Bressou has an unbelievable record this race having won it 5 times in the last 7 years including the year previously with his stable star. A horse who had already won a remarkable five grade ones, went on to do what he does which is go from the front, jump for fun, stretch the field out down the back straight and gallop them relentlessly into the ground. His winning Margin this year was an eased down six lengths to Cheltenham grade 2 winner Jet blue but that doesn’ t emphasize how easy this great horse won his 6 th grade one and will continue to do so for many years to come I believe. The grade one action continued into Saturday starting off with the Prix Cambaceras for threeyear-olds. Much like the grand prix d’ automne there was only one horse everyone was talking about: Leopard du berlais. The Son of Ectot made his debut in the grade 3 in spring and won emphatically at 28 / 1 announcing himself on the national hunt stage. He returned in a Group 2 after a summer break and showed it wasn’ t a fluke when beating a decent horse called the Mighty celt by an impressive 9 lengths. This time around on what was his toughest task yet in terms of heavy ground and a deep field of opposition, he swatted them away with easy to win by seven and a half lengths. Three races, all in group company, three wins. Take a bow Leopard du berlais. Next up was the Prix Maurice Gillois, the grade one steeplechase for four-year-olds. A very strong
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