Monday's Flat Racing comes from a late afternoon meeting at Marseille-Borely on the south coast. This is a tight left-handed track, just about a mile round, and it is usually the last place in France to have quick ground each year. The course at Marseille-Borely can be as much about the draw as it is about having the horse with the right profile and ability. The need to get into a prominent position within the first 300-metres and the tight turns can make things very tricky from a wide draw. Whilst there is always an occasional exception, it is generally a profitable approach to look at the lower drawn horses at Marseille-Borely and that looks to be especially true on Monday evening’s card. Here are my 2 best selections on the 7-race card;
4:42 - Prix ANDRE GREGORI
Although this is a Class 3 handicap with €10,000 to the winner, it was a relatively difficult task to find a horse who could be considered to be “in form”. Plenty of these runners are exposed and on the decline, at least in the ratings, but there is an exception and that is the Escuder trained filly, Till We Die. Although she is only a 5-year-old, this will be her 58th start, but to her credit she has been largely consistent, winning on 9 occasions and placing on a further 21, amassing over €136,000 in prize-money for her loyal connections. She was a winner at Salon-de-Provence back in May and after a couple of below par efforts, she returned to form when 3rd in a €20,000 claimer at Vichy last time. On that occasion, she chased home the 37-kilo rated Ciao Pa and I think it is fair to say that she is likely to be suited by the return to 6-furlongs, as she was outpaced at Vichy before staying on nicely in the final 100-metres.
Her connections defended her for €12,000 in that claimer and I think it is fair to say that she at least ran to her current mark of 31.5-kilos. That mark is fully 6-kilos lower than when she won this race 12-months ago under Ioritz Mendizabal and so when adding in the 1.5-kilo claim that Coralie Pacaut takes off her back, she is certainly handicapped to go close from a decent draw in stall 6.
5:47 - Criterium de Provence
This is a very “trappy looking” Class 2 contest for the 2-year-olds over an extended mile, but in the absence of an obvious pace setter, I was keen to try to find the horse who would be most likely to race in a prominent position and that led me to Lady Vitesse. A winner on debut at Lyon Parilly, she was immediately pitched into a deep race when sent up to Deauville for an Arqana series race 3-weeks ago. Having broken well from the stalls, she found herself in front at the halfway stage and having set some relatively fast early fractions, she wasn’t able to sustain her effort as she was swamped by the closers in the final 300-metres. She is back in much calmer waters here and given that she has shown early speed in both starts to date, it is not unreasonable to think that Tony Piccone will find himself in a prominent position by the time they round the first turn.
To win this race, it will probably require her to run to make around 42-kilos and although she hasn’t hit that level yet, it would not take too much improvement for her to do so, especially in a small field like this. Of those with official ratings, perhaps Donegal is the biggest danger, but he does shape like a horse who will stay much further than this in time and the tight bends of Marseille may not play to his strengths.
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