Auteuil Notepad - 6th October

I am going to concentrate on the 3-year-old hurdles from Tuesday’s card at Auteuil. It was a very good day to be a supporter of the Hugo and Pierre Pilarski silks as the famous red and yellow colours took both 3-year-old races on the card. In their own way, both winners showed plenty of promise, both for the end of this season and in particular for what they might achieve as 4-year-olds in 2027. Here are my notes;

PRIX PIOMARES - GUY NEGREL

On paper this looked to be the best race on the card and I think in time it will prove to be just that. Several of these runners came into the race on the back of promising debuts and I think that the right horse won. First though, I must pass on best wishes to Bryony Le Clerc, who took a nasty fall aboard the Mickael Seror trained Milord du Berlais and I hope she is back in the saddle sooner rather than later. With Milord du Berlais running loose behind the field, this race did look to become a simpler task for BAGHERA DU BERLAIS, but I was still really impressed by the way he finished his race to win by 5 lengths. Having been an eye-catching 2nd in the Prix des Platanes behind Varsovie last month, he certainly wasn’t winning this race out of turn and David Cottin’s charge was worthy of his place towards the head of the market based on the form that he had shown. He pulled for his head in the early stages, but once moving forwards, he seemed much happier and having taken up the running at halfway, he began to assert around the final turn, maintaining his advantage with a solid leap over the last. He has quite a high knee action and it would not surprise me if he would prefer a softer surface underfoot. As I said when he made his debut, he had shown more than enough to suggest that he could win a 3-year-old hurdle and now he has. I’m sure his connections will have ideas around some of the better 3-year-old hurdles to come at Auteuil in the next 6 weeks now, but there is no doubt in my mind that Baghera du Berlais will be next year’s horse and I am more excited to see what he may be capable of in the Spring, possibly over fences as a 4-year-old.

PRIX DE NANTES

This 3-year-old hurdle for the fillies was dominated from start to finish by LISSADELL, who also runs in the Pilarski silks. Trained by Elisabeth Allaire, Lissadell had finished first in the Prix Kerym last month and took this 2nd hurdles start in her stride, despite the 2-kilo penalty on her back. Having chased the leaders throughout, she moved to the front around the home turn and powered away to win by 7 lengths when asked to stretch in the home straight. There was promise from Ninette du Seuil (2nd) and Panama Lux (3rd) who both took a step forwards from their earlier form, but the horse to concentrate on was Lissadell who heads into the Autumn as one of the best 3-year-old fillies in France. A filly by Yeats, her dam (Rosario Has) was a 4-time winner over obstacles and is a a half-sister to the G1 Prix Alain du Breil winner Roll On Has. The disappointment in the race was Scarletts Star. She had finished 3rd behind Chic Me (now with Willie Mullins) in the Prix Geographie in the Spring, but showed very little enthusiasm on her first start since. Perhaps she needed the run? Either way, she ran far below the level that she had shown on debut and is presumably thought to be much better than this effort.

It has been a very successful season for the Allaire yard, who are also responsible for leading prospects Delmegan, Nuit Torride and Opera Light and they have returned 26 winners in 2026 at a 29% strike rate, a vert healthy return from just 35 individual runners. Lissadell has the potential to follow in the footsteps of Delmegan, who won the G2 Prix Magalen Bryant last November before going on to further graded success as a 4-year-old in the Spring.