It’s Grand Steep weekend in Paris and it’s a particuarly good edition with lots of British and Irish runners to pique our curiosity.
The going? Well, of course it’s tres souple but we have Turftrax readings to give us a bit of a better idea and today (18 May), it’s 4.1 which equates to “very soft” (broadly soft to heavy in English parlance). The prize money is off the scale of course and, after a couple of quiet years in France, Willie Mullins has sent over a decent team for the big races.
There’s no betting available yet so this is just a guide to notable runners. By the way, did you know that the French for form is “musique”?
I hope that Sky Sports Racing (Sky 415) make it easy for us to watch all the races rather than pushing them behind UK races with late replays. As a fall back, you can set up a free account at france-galop.com and that has a “live” option on the website. The meetings that are likely to get in the way are Bangor-On-Dee on Saturday and Ripon on Sunday.
Incidentally, if you happened to be in Paris (and I do intend to be for this weekend next year), two day entry for the weekend is €8, Panoramic Stand €26 and gourmet elegance for €239 (personal welcome in the lounge and seat in the stands, cocktail lunch with soft drinks, wine and champagne “at will” with access to the weighing area).
Saturday
13:33 Prix Sagan Grade 3 3-y-o Hurdle
No foreign participants and these are ones to watch out for possible purchases by big UK and Irish yards. The likely favourite is Funny Berry (Gab Leenders/Felix De Giles).
14:15 Racing TV Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil Grade 1 Hurdle
Loads of interest here with runners including Feronily (Emmet Mullins), Klassical Dream (WP), Asterion Forlonge (WP), Haut En Couleurs (WP), Flooring Porter (Gavin Cromwell), Kilcruit (WP), Hewick (Shark Hanlon) and Hermes Baie (Francois Nicolle). Rachael Blackmore takes the ride on Hewick and Paul Townend is on Klassical Dream but my preference is for Haut En Couleurs, ridden by Jonny Charron.
14:50 Prix “Le Parisien” Listed Mares’ Hurdle
Instit (WP/Townend) is a confident selection to beat likely favourite Ine Anjou (Solier/Lestrade).
15:25 Prix Saint-Sauveur Listed Chase
I fancy a Czech result here for the Velka Pardubice legends Josef Bartos/Josef Vana with Peace Garden.
16:00 Prix Le Guales de Mezaubran Listed Hurdle
Based on almost no knowledge of the runners (!) I’ll go for Bayaline (Lageneste & Macaire/Charron)
Sunday
The final cards are yet to be published so this is just a potted summary.
13:00 Prix Marechal Foch Chase (Amateurs’ Gold Cup)
Sumsam (Nick Littmoden) is the likely favourite.
13:35 Prix Aguado Grade 3 Hurdle
Star of the French 3-y-o hurdles season Jigme should win this. Almost certainly UK /IRE bound, possibly with J P McManus if I remember correctly.
15:05 Grand Steep De Paris Grade 1
Notable runners include Franco De Port (WP/Townend), Carriacou (Pacault/Meunier), Carefully Selected (WP/D Mullins) and Noble Yeats (Emmet Mullins/Sean Bowen).
I fancy WP to add this to his roll of honour with Carefully Selected.
Prix Alain Du Breil (French Triumph Hurdle) Grade 1
One of my favourite races of the year. Lou Fast should win this and the WP runners are Zarak The Brave (for Munir/Souede) and the excellent Gala Marceau. I fancy the latter to follow up on his last winner in this race, Footpad, in 2016.
We’ll have to wait and see about the final two races, the Prix Tanerko and Prix Carmont, because runners haven’t been uploaded yet.
Quick selections for Aintree tomorrow evening
17:20 Father of Jazz (evens)
15:55 The Big Bite (4/1)
18:30 Basford (5/2)
19:05 Mackenberg (6/1)
19:40 Kinondo Kwetu (11/4) (nap)
20:15 Malaita (3/1)
20:50 Cadell (15/8) (next best)
Good luck!
Leave a Reply