Auteuil Notepad - 8th September 2026

It’s so good to have Auteuil back from its Summer break. The Summer jumps program at Dieppe and Clairefontaine is all well and good, but nothing quite matches the excitement of the Paris track. There were so many notes to be made from the 8 race card, but I decided to try and focus on the 3-year-old races. It’s not too late to find a horse for the new National Hunt season. In fact, last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner Apolon de Charnie ran at Auteuil in mid-September, finishing 2nd to Proactif in the Prix Finot. Taking that as a working hypothesis, I think it is always important to keep an eye on the 3-year-old races at this time of the year.

Watching the 3-year-olds race over fences is one of the quirks of French racing. It doesn’t happen in the UK and Ireland, but it offers a different perspective for young National Hunt horses who are normally ahead of their British counterparts at this age anyway. The Prix Weather Permitting is the first 3-year-old chase of the year at Auteuil and whilst it probably didn’t contain any recruits for the new season, it was won in impressive fashion by NALKO DES MOTTES. Trained by Francois Nicolle, this Balko gelding has already had quite a busy campaign and ran in the Prix Wild Monarch here on debut in April. He won over hurdles on his 3rd start at Dieppe in June and was able to use that experience to win this first start over fences with some authority. Sat behind the lead set by Sommerkonig (2nd), he was always in the ideal position and once asked to assert in the home straight, he pulled readily clear after jumping the last in front. Both placed horses had won races over fences and although any 3-year-old chase form needs to be treated with some caution, I thought this was a solid effort. His dam is a half-sister to Jupiter des Mottes (Nicky Richards) who also won over fences and given his size, it’s not surprising to see that Francois Nicolle has decided to go over the larger obstacles so early in his career.

Next came the Class 1 Prix des Platanes. This was a very deep 3-year-old hurdle on paper and offered up some of the better performers from the Summer campaign against what I would call the “Paris” horses. Ultimately, it was the latter that came to the fore, with VARSOVIE producing a superb performance from the front. He had failed to finish his 2 starts in the Spring, but despite some jumping to his left, he was always in control and once jumping the last in front, he made his way towards the stands side but was always holding the runner-up. Varsovie is an Estejo gelding who is a half-brother to both Bressland and Winterland who were winners in France and whilst the Papot silks are more likely to be carried to the highest levels by Huron Bleu this autumn, Varsovie has now shown himself to be more than capable of competing as a juvenile hurdler. The runner-up also deserves some attention. Baghera du Berlais was making his racecourse debut for David Cottin in the Pilarski silks and I thought he ran a fine race to finish a clear 2nd under Johnny Charron. He raced a few lengths behind the pace and worked hard to chase the leader home after jumping the 2nd last and he was the only horse to really come out of the pack. An SP of 15 PMU would suggest that his connections weren’t brimming with confidence and compared to the 3.3 PMU that Varsovie returned, it would perhaps be fair to suggest that Tuesday was the day for the winner. However, Baghera du Berlais emerged with a lot of credit and should prove more than capable of winning a hurdle as a 3-year-old based on this evidence.

The final race that I thought was worthy of watching was the 3-year-old claimer won by Night Agent. Toby Jones and Mickael Seror are some of the shrewdest connections around and their horses are always worthy of note at this level. Night Agent was given a positive ride by Joel Phelippe and once he mastered Graces Invicta (4th) between the final 2 flights, he was always holding the 2nd and 3rd on the run-in. This win came on the back of a promising run at Clairefontaine in July and having been defended for €30k, there is a very good chance that he will be able to add to this success in the weeks ahead.