The Weekly Wrap

Deauvillle's brief sojourn as the home of the French Guineas has come to an end and the return of the country's first two Classics to their rightful home at Longchamp will be rued in some quarters. From the rout of The Gurkha (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in last year's G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains to Sunday's tooth-and-nail tussle between Brametot (Ire) (Rajsaman {Fr}) and Le Brivido (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), there has been much to enjoy in uncomplicated races run over a straight mile.

Hard-luck stories are a fact of racing, but a number of trainers have expressed a desire for France Galop to attempt to lessen the potential for calamity by keeping the 'Poules' in Normandy. John Gosden was frank in his assessment of the problem during a press morning at his stables last month.

He said, “If you stand at the mile start at Longchamp, you shake your head that they can run a Classic race from there. If you're drawn above six you're history, as you have to stay straight. It's a desperate start, so we all had a vote in the bar at Deauville that we'd like to keep the Poules there forever because it's such a lovely straight track. Unfortunately, France Galop weren't too amused as they are building a new grandstand at Longchamp, but the mile start at Longchamp is a dreadful problem.”

It's unlikely, however, that after an extensive redevelopment, the country's most prestigious racecourse will be stripped of two of its crown jewels. Arqana's Eric Hoyeau, on the other hand, is keen for the breeze-up sale to remain in Deauville and, following the incredible success of that auction in the last two years, it's easy to see why.

Allez Brametot…

The Arqana Breeze-up Sale came close to being able to boast another Classic-winning graduate when Le Brivido hit the front inside the final furlong only for Brametot to snatch the spoils on the line.

The winner had provided his trainer Jean-Claude Rouget with a victory arguably as important a month earlier, his impressive performance in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau coming during the weekend on which details emerged of the EHV-1 outbreak at the trainer's Pau base.

There was plenty to like about his determined late surge in the Poulains, and his close connection to Monsun (Ger) on his dam side augurs well for him to step up in trip if his connections opt for the G1 Prix du Jockey Club over the G1 St James's Palace S. If Brametot should go on to complete a French Classic double, he will be emulating the fillies Avenir Certain (Fr) and La Cressonniere (Fr), both trained by Rouget and both daughters of Le Havre (Ire), the stablemate of Brametot's young sire Rajsaman at Haras de la Cauviniere. There's nothing like a first-crop Classic winner to raise the profile of a stallion's career and the fact that the enterprising team of Sylvain Vidal and Mathieu Alex have now pulled it off twice is much to their credit. The fillies were both homebred from mares bought to support Le Havre upon his retirement, while Brametot was a relatively inexpensive foal purchase.

Despite having already tasted top-level success so early in the history of the operation, at La Cauviniere on Friday morning there was a palpable sense of nervous anticipation as Brametot's big day drew near. By late on Sunday afternoon, however, this had given way to elation.

“I worked at Coolmore for 10 years and I know how difficult and competitive this game is,” said Mathieu Alex. “It has always been our policy to support the stallions by sending them good mares and sending the offspring to good trainers but we have been very lucky.”

Alex continued, “With Rajsaman, he was by Linamix and well bred, so we thought he'd produce well. We don't want to stand too many stallions but we'll just try to upgrade the quality. It couldn't be better to have a Guineas winner in the first crop, but [Rajsaman] was leading first-crop sire in France last year after covering mares at only €4,000, so full credit to him. Linamix has been magic here and was a very tough horse–we hoped that Rajsaman could reproduce that and it's worked today.”

Al Shaqab Duo Off The Mark…

Last week it was announced that a 50% share in Brametot had been purchased by Al Shaqab Racing, an operation which has its own burgeoning stallion roster that is likely to include this Classic winner in the coming years.

Al Shaqab's first two sires to have retired to Haras de Bouquetot, Style Vendome (Fr) and Planteur (Ire), are both off the mark with their first 2-year-olds, with Marinka (Fr) having become the debut winner for the latter at Strasbourg on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Style Vendome's two winners on the board have clearly caught the eye, as the son of Anabaa managed a slot in the top five at Arqana's Breeze-up sale on Friday when a son of the listed runner-up Irisijana (Ger) (Diktat {GB}) was bought by Shadwell for €400,000. The grey colt had previously been selected by Brendan Holland as a yearling for €45,000.

Expectations will be high for the first crop of Bouquetot's most recent recruit, Shalaa (Ire), when his runners start to hit the track in 2020. Among a host of well-credentialed Al Shaqab mares, his first book includes the dual Arc winner Treve (Fr) and he is set to cover La Cressonniere following her purchase by Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm.

Precieuse Moment…

The years of hope, effort, and sometimes grief, endured by breeders can be quickly forgotten on a sunlit afternoon when a homebred grasps a longed-for Classic victory. The unbridled joy of the post-race celebrations of Brendan and Anne-Marie Hayes, the owner-breeders of G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Precieuse (Fr) (Tamayuz {GB}), was a delight to watch. The bonhomie ran long into the afternoon as they toasted the success of their well-named filly with first-time Classic-winning trainer Fabrice Chappet and Olivier Peslier, who, remarkably has ridden only 12 winners in France this year, but remains very much the man for the big occasion.

Brendan Hayes, who ran the hugely successful Kilfrush Stud for Jean-Pierre Binet from the early 1980s until its sale in 2013, has continued his pursuit of excellence at his and Anne-Marie's own farm, Knocktoran Stud, the birthplace of Precieuse.

“We own the dam, the grandam and the next dam so it's been a long time coming,” said Hayes. “But they've been very good to us. She's very genuine with a high cruising speed and we're very fortunate to have her.”

Precieuse's dam Zut Alors (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) ran in the same race 10 years earlier, finishing 10th behind Darjina (Fr), but managed to claim black-type in the G3 Prix Miesque when trained by Robert Collet. It is the Collet connection that brought the Irish-based breeders to Chappet's door for the first time.

Hayes recalled, “Fabrice goes back a long way with us because we owned horses with Robert Collet for many years and Fabrice was his assistant 25 years ago. When [Precieuse] stood up as a foal I felt strongly that I wanted to keep her and fortunately it has worked out for us. We've been very lucky. We bred Tie Black (Ire), who won this race in the stewards' room, and Valentine Waltz [through Kilfrush and Stone Ridge Farm], so it's been a very lucky race for us.”

He continued, “I was pretty confident that she'd stay a mile. The average winning distance for Tamayuz is nine furlongs and there are plenty of staying horses in the family. So even though she has speed I didn't feel she was a sprinter. I'm a huge fan of the sire. He's had some small crops and with those limited chances on numbers he's done very well. We have four mares in foal to him. The mare has a filly foal by Kodiac (GB) to die for and she's hopefully back in foal to Tamayuz.”

Aiming For The Top Spot…

It's been a terrific couple of weeks for breeze-up vendors Katie McGivern and Mick Murphy. The duo bought Poule d'Essai des Poulains runner-up Le Brivido as a yearling and sold him at Arqana last year through Murphy's Longways Stables, while McGivern was also behind the 1000 Guineas third Daban (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), whom she sold on behalf of Peter and Antoinette Kavanagh at Tattersalls last season.

From this year's breezers, McGivern's Derryconnor Stud has already struck with a winner in One Minute (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), a £52,000 Goffs UK Breeze-up purchase by William Haggas and now a Royal Ascot prospect after her impressive debut in a Lingfield maiden on Friday, exactly a month after going through the ring.

“I've been third in the 1000 Guineas and now a close second in the French 2000 Guineas,” said McGivern at Deauville on Sunday. “Perhaps One Minute will go one better in the Queen Mary.”

Incidentally, One Minute was bred by Kilfrush Stud's new owner Mubarak Al Naemi.