FOUR NAPS OUT OF FIVE BUT WHAT ARE THESE MONSIEURS UP TO? Daqman made it four winning naps out of five yesterday with the gambled-on Call The Wind (WON 2-5). He wants to do better today, and asks ‘just what are these monsieurs up to?’ His answer is that a French master trainer has struck form, and a boy rider tries to follow up 15-1 and 23-1 winners.
Headlines:
🔹 BOUDOT’S NOW ONLY ONE SHORT OF 60
🔹 JUSTUM BLOSSOMING AT 23-1 AND 15-1
🔹 FORM LINES FOR WELL-DRAWN DEACON
🔹 GOOD IDEA TO SUPERNAP FRANKEL FILLY
BOUDOT’S NOW ONLY ONE SHORT OF 60
⚠️ Leading French Flat Trainers: Jean-Claude Rouget 32, Christophe Escuder and Christophe Ferland both on 24, Frederic Rossi and Fabrice Vermeulen 23 each, Jerome Reynier 20, Francis-Henri Graffard and Henri-Alex Pantall on 19.
⚠️ Leading Jockeys: Pierre-Charles Boudot 59, Maxime Guyon 44, Christophe Soumillon 43, Cristian Demuro 31, Anthony Crastus 29, Julien Auge 25, Eddy Hardouin 24, Delphine Santiago 20.
⚠️ Lyon-Parilly (2019) TRAINERS: Fabrice Vermeulen 9, Jean-Pierre Gauvin 8, Henri-Alex Pantall 8, Christophe Escuder 6.
⚠️ JOCKEYS: Maxime Guyon 13, Pierre-Charles Boudot 8, Franck Blondel, Marie Velon and Antoine Hamelin 5 each.
⚠️ Chateaubriant (2019) TRAINERS: two each for Pia Brandt, Norbert Leenders, Christophe Lotoux, Henri-Alex Pantall.
⚠️ JOCKEYS: Alexandre Roussel and Theo Bachelot three each, and two each for Julien Auge, Arnaud Bourgeais, Pierre-Charles Boudot, Julien Guillochon.
JUSTUM BLOSSOMING AT 23-1 AND 15-1
Stake at Chateaubriant; steak tonight. I’ll have my chateaubriand (the town is just a variant on the old vicomte’s surname) with bearnaise sauce and fries, helped down with a bottle of Saint Emilion. That’s if I’m celebrating.
Reading the French racecards has been hard. Not the language. Not the form. But which trainers do and which trainers don’t, if you get my meaning.
I’m used to checking out the English card before dawn breaks, ticking and crossing, with annotation under my breath: ‘he won’t want that.. he won’t be ready with that yet.. he doesn’t come here for nothing’. That sort of thing.
But I don’t much know what these monsieurs are up to! When you find something – like my introduction last week to Didier Guillemin – you might still hesitate, as I did, only for said Guillemin to land a hat-trick the following day!
⭕ 10.25 Chateaubriant Just completed a hat-trick and coming here for the four-timer is Andre Fabre, with Cleante.
Fabre needs no introduction to English and Irish punters, as winner of an Epsom Derby and three Guineas at Newmarket; plus two Derbys and an Oaks at the Curragh.
I’ll take two of Fabre’s today, this one and a supernap at the other meeting, Lyon-Parilly (1.25), hopeful of getting something back at shorts odds! But I’ll stake at bigger prices for a profit from an apprentice called Maximilien.
⭕ 11.55 Chateaubriant I think I’d like to be called Maximilien Justum. What a name! Check out babyface Max, who rides at 7st 11lb and says he’s ‘epanoui’ in everything he does.
‘Blossoming’, eh! He may need some of that when he rides Soul Of Maria in this race.
But be warned that he has won two races at 23-1 and 15-1 in his last nine rides before today’s meeting, one of them for Soul of Maria’s trainer, Norbert Leenders. ‘Maximilien wins for Norbert’; you can’t make it up!
⭕ 1.07 Chateaubriant Maximilien Justum again rides for Norbert Leenders, again able to use his claim on the six-year-old Irish Storm, a strong-finishing winner at Angers earlier this month.
I think that, between 7.5 Soul Of Maria and 6.5 Irish Storm, we could just about get a return from Monsieur Justum.
FORM LINES FOR WELL-DRAWN DEACON
⭕ 12.50 Lyon-Parilly The top jocks are all here for the big handicap of the day: Barzalona, Boudot, Cheminaud, Demuro, Guyon, Pasquier, Soumillon, and not forgetting Franck Blondel, one of the leading course riders who won a handicap at the last meeting.
What makes this race really tricky is that the going is expected to be good after a sunny weekend.
But every one of the eight meetings on this track since last September have been run on soft, soft-heavy or heavy ground, and you have to wonder whether there will be watering, to which French tracks are addicted.
So there tends to be positives and negatives about every runner. Top weight is a bit off-putting for Royalist, a grey Intello, and he has won on heavy over the Lyon-Parilly CD. In his favour is a nice high stall.
Others who prefer it soft are impressive March handicap winner Souveraine Elusive, but ridden by runaway jockeys-table leader, Pierre-Charles Boudot, and Celine Laur’s mount, Bright Crescent, but another with a high draw.
Deacon made all the running on good ground at the other Lyon track, Lyon de Soie, in February and blinkers first time should help him continue to belie his previous bridesmaid status (form figures 333423 before the win).
Plateado, visored first time, comes out in front of the Myboycharlie filly, Bellariva, on lines through Ideal Man. Not disgraced in a quality handicap at Deauville, when bidding for his hat-trick, and the in-form Demuro takes over today.
But form lines through the Deauville winner put him behind Deacon, who has a nice draw in stall 10, and decent offers of 6.5 on BETDAQ.
GOOD IDEA TO SUPERNAP FRANKEL FILLY
⭕ 1.25 Lyon-Parilly Andre Fabre suddenly struck form yesterday with a hat-trick at Deauville, completed by Pierre-Charles Boudot with Bring On The Night.
At this time of year, it’s ‘bring on the three-year-old maidens’ from the Fabre stable, a little late this time around for obvious reasons.
So it’s a good idea – a Bonne Idee, in fact – to look out for those with potential, particularly with Boudot on board and particularly against other yards who will not need to bring them forward with quality races in mind but are looking for handicap marks.
For instance, Henry-Francois Devin (runs Anahata here) has just shown us how to produce big-field handicap winners: a 7-1 winner from 16 others at Saint-cloud last Tuesday and a 3-1 gamble home in a field of 15 at Le Lion d’Angers on Thursday.
Bonne Idee, a Frankel filly, was a big punt overnight from 9-4 to 11-10 and now evens, which will help the supernap pass the 100-points profit mark which I want this week.
DAQMAN’S BETS
10.25 Chateaubriant (win 10)
BET 6pts win CLEANTE
11.55 Chateaubriant (win 20)
BET 3pts win SOUL OF MARIA
12.50 Lyon-Parilly (win 20)
BET 3.6pts win DEACON
1.07 Chateaubriant (win 20)
BET 3.6pts win IRISH STORM
1.25 Lyon-Parilly (supernap)
BET 20pts win BONNE IDEE
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