Criterium de Lyon - Ozone

The French 2-year-olds do appear to have spent a lot of time beating each other but the form lines are starting to draw together as we had towards the Group 1 Juvenile races at the end of the season in Paris. Tuesday’s Listed Criterium de Lyon may not be the first race on peoples minds when looking for a top class performer, but Ozone certainly caught the eye with what proved to be a relatively straight forward success. Trained by Christophe Ferland, she was a winner on her racecourse debut at Saint-Cloud in July, where she made every yard of the running and kicked clear to win by 5-lengths in the straight. That was an impressive start for the Wertheimer home-bred, but she enjoyed the run of the race and proved at Lyon, that she is much more than an aggressive front runner.

She was settled behind the early pace set by Baklawa, who was a 3-length winner at La Teste on her latest start, but once asked to close in the straight, Ozone could be called the winner at the furlong pole, as she eased past. The ground was reported to be “Tres Souple” (Very Soft), with a measurement of 3,8 on the penetrometer and a winning time of 1:43.80 would support that. The winner had a finishing speed of 104.8% and the McLloyd Data shows that she took 31 strides in the final furlong, compared to the 30 and 33 taken by the runner-up and the 3rd. Ozone holds an entry in the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend and it will be interesting to see whether her connections decide to roll the dice. The last 2 winners of this race ended their 2-year-old campaigns at this point of the season, but the winners in 2020 and 2022 both went to the Group 1 races at Saint-Cloud in October, finishing 5th (Darkness 2020) and 9th (Strako 2022). Mangoustine is the most successful winner of this Criterium race in the last 5 years. She went on to win the Group 3 Prix Miesque at Chantilly in October before winning the French 1,000 Guineas the following Spring. I’m not for one moment suggesting that Ozone is the Pouliches winner for 2026, but she has taken a significant step forwards by winning this race, beating a pair of fillies that came into the contest with some solid form in the book and if she lines up at Paris Longchamp in October, she is likely to be a single figure price on the back of this.

The runner-up, Family Secret, was 3rd in one of the Arqana races at Deauville in August and ran at least as well here, coming to the stands side rail to make her late challenge and put her head down for 2nd on the line. She was a fast finisher and is almost certainly a maiden winner in waiting, but despite the visual impression, it is worth noting that her final furlong time (12.76s) and recorded speed (56.6 km/h) were slower than Ozone. Baklawa was a comfortable winner at La Teste and has run to a similar level here, making the running before ultimately being outstayed by a better horse. She should remain competitive, particularly if she is campaigned in the South and perhaps a drop down into a Class 2 race, with a bend to help, might be the way forward now that she has some Black Type on her CV. The front 3 pulled 8-lengths clear of the rest, headed home by the previously unbeaten Special Wood, who clearly didn’t cope with the softer conditions.

The winner is the horse to take from this and her pedigree offers plenty of hope that she will be much more than a precocious 2-year-old. A Lope de Vega filly out of a Sea the Stars mare who is a half-sister to Ecrivain, she should take another step forward over the winter and whilst the general picture with the 2-year-olds in France remains murky at best. Ozone has become the first horse that I have added to my notes with a view to 2026 and beyond.