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French Recruits - Races to Watch


Auteuil Racecourse in Paris, France

It's Monday morning, the coffee is on and I've already watched 15 replays of French races in the provinces from Sundays cards. I'm very lucky to be able to dedicate so much time to this, but if you don't have quite as much time, I've had a brief idea to try and make the form study a little simpler. With so many French horses being bought each year, it can be very dififcult to keep track of the form and to know which pieces of form to follow and which to discard. So, to try and make things a little easier I have created a list below of 5 races from the Spring season that I think are worth some extra attention when studying this years recruits from France. I have just updated the PDF file for this years list (see related post) and having sorted through the 3-year-olds, these 5 races stood out for me. If time allows, I will probably add an additional post for the older horses later this month, but for now this concentrates on the Juveniles.


I have listed the 5 races below, along with links to the replays on the France Galop site and details of which horses to look out for:


Racecard for the Prix D'Essai des Poulains

PRIX D'ESSAI DES POULAINS


Compiegne 5th March


Willy de Houelle (1st), Its Bilbo (4th)


Willy de Houelle is now the Triumph hurdle favourite and has joined Willie Mullins for Rich Ricci, whilst Its Bilbo was purchased for Henry de Bromhead after his debut here.


This race was won by Quilixios in 2020 on his only start for Francois Nicolle.


Racecard for the Prix Go Ahead

PRIX GO AHEAD


Auteuil 27th April


Willy de Houelle (2nd), Sony Bill (4th), Mambonumberfive (5th)


Both Willy de Houelle and Sony Bill have joined Willie Mullins, whilst Mambonumberfive was a €450,000 purchase for Ben Pauling.


The race was won by Nietzsche Has, who is the highest rated 3YO in France so far in 2024.


Racecard for the Prix de Pouilly

PRIX DE POUILLY


Auteuil 5th May


Sauvignon (2nd), Fou de Toi (3rd)


Sauvignon is a hlaf-brother to G1 Prix du Moulin winner Sauterne and has joined Paul Nicholls, whilst Fou de Toi is now with Willie Mullins.


Both Sauvignon and the winner Apollon du Luy would go on to win Listed races in their subsequent starts.


Racecard for the Prix Sagan

PRIX SAGAN


Auteuil 18th May


Irisante (3rd).

Rated 68kg (136 UK), this filly by Tai Chi has now moved to the UK to be trained by DJ Jeffreys.


Race was won by Kargese in 2023, who went on to be a G1 winner for Willie Mullins last season.


Racecard for the Prix D'Iena

PRIX D'IENA


Auteuil 8th June


Murcia (1st)


Murcia has joined Willie Mullins for Kenny Alexander.


The 2nd, 3rd and 4th all came into this race on the back of a win.


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