French Recruits - Nelouba

A 3-year-old filly by Masked Marvel, Nelouba has joined the training team of Jonjo and AJ O’Neill after making a winning debut in an AQPS race at Le Lion D’Angers in early June. She is the first foal of Gazelle de Tracy (Spirit One), a 3 time winner on the Flat in France in AQPS races. Sent off at odds of 9.0 PMU for her debut in the Prix de Sceaux D’Anjou in June, her only start for trainer Xavier Blanchet, she got the better of a couple of rivals with experience, including the previous course and distance winner Nina D’Ange (4th). Settled behind the early pace, this race developed into a tactical sprint finish when they came around the sweeping home turn at Lion D’Angers. Once pulled out to make her challenge, she responded well despite looking green and in need of the experience, ultimately staying on best to win by three-quarters of a length from the fast-finishing Nectar Smart. The runner-up had the benefit of 2 previous starts on his side, whilst the 3rd placed Nina Pietra would go on to finish 3rd in the G3 Prix de L’Isle Briand at the end of July, beaten 3 lengths by the impressive Nuit De Star. The form has a solid if not spectacular look to it and so it was no surprise to see Nelouba make the switch to race in the UK as a juvenile hurdling prospect.

AQPS Flat races can be very difficult pieces of form to assess. Some horses are running for the benefit of the experience, others are running with a “For Sale” sign and some are running because they haven’t taken particularly well to hurdles when schooled at home. At this stage, it would be impossible to say which one of those categories Nelouba would fit into, but I thought she showed a lot of promise when asked to go and win her race. Although it can be difficult to tell from a video replay, it did appear that she had some filling out to do and she looked to be quite light at this early stage of her career. With that in mind, I think she did well to win under Pierre Bazire and a top speed of 62.6 km/h, with closing furlong splits of 11.51 and 12.04s does suggest she has plenty of speed when required (Source: McLloyd). Masked Marvel is probably best known as a sire who passes on plenty of stamina to his progeny (Teahupoo, Sel Jem, etc) and so she may well get further in time, although it would be important to note that she won a 12 furlong AQPS race on fast ground in France. I think it is highly unlikely that she is going to develop into a Triumph Hurdle horse, although you can never be sure, but I do think there is a lot of improvement to come and in a couple of years time I would imagine that Nelouba should make up into a 120+ rated hurdler, if she takes to the jumping game. Her new owner has yet to be confirmed, but Xavier Blanchet is a very capable trainer and she will have had an excellent grounding as a juvenile, so there are plenty of reasons for the O’Neill team to be optimistic about her future.