French Recruits - Aimez Vous Brahms

Aimez Vous Brahms has joined Gavin Cromwell in Ireland from the stable of French Champion Jumps trainer Mickael Seror. A 3-year-old gelding by Great Pretender, he arrives in Ireland with an ideal set of form figures; 8,3. That might seem slightly surprising to some that are unfamiliar with the process of recruiting horses from France, but if you can’t buy the genuinely top class debutantes and are looking for some value in the market, then buying a horse who will arrive with the benefit of experience, but also a novice status that is still intact can be the ideal. Aimez Vous Brahms is out of the No Risk At All mare Just Move On, herself a 7 time winner across both codes in France. She has already produced the Listed placed hurdler Just Happy (Erwan Grall) and is herself a half-sister to 5 winners.

Aimez Vous Brahms made his debut in the very first 3-year-old hurdle of the season, the Prix D’Essai des Poulains at Compiegne in early March. The race was won by Rare et Precieux, who has since been sold to join Gordon Elliott in Ireland and although he finished 8th, beaten a total of 18 lengths, allowance should be made for the fact that he was given an educational ride towards the rear of the field by Baptiste Le Clerc and was never really able to get himself on terms to finish any closer. A starting price of 25 PMU would confirm as much and he was clearly there for the experience rather than because he was thought precocious enough to win. Entered over the same course and distance a month later in the Prix des Benjamins, he had clearly learned a lot from that debut experience as he finished a close 3rd behind his stablemate Jardin Paturle, who would go on to finish 2nd in the G3 Arqana Prix Aguado at Autueil in May. Racing again towards the rear of the field, he was almost last as they approached the 2nd last flight, but when asked to close, he picked up readily and made up the best part of 8 lengths inside the final furlong to be beaten less than a length. A closing time of 16.44s from the final flight to the line (Source: McLloyd) was over a second faster than any of his rivals and despite the patient nature of his ride, that figure was very eye-catching. The Seror team applied the hood for his 2nd start and that did seem to help him to finish his race so it will be interesting to see if Gavin Cromwell sticks with the headgear when he makes his Irish debut.

Whilst the form of both his debut (3 winners) and 2nd start (2 winners) have worked out reasonably well, given that both races took place in the opening month of the season it is important to highlight that many of the runners would simply have needed more time. I prefer to judge Aimez Vous Brahms on the education that he received from Baptiste Le Clerc and I think the benefit of the experience from those 2 runs will be invaluable in the autumn. At this stage, I would relatively surprised to see this horse line up in the Triumph hurdle in March, though he may well have a run in a graded race in Ireland to find out first. However, it’s not all about the Triumph Hurdle and I do think there are going to be races won with this horse. Given that he has joined Gavin Cromwell, he is now on my “Fred Winter possibilities” list and I expect him to make his mark in a handicap at some point.