Prix D’Aumale - Green Spirit

I’m going to start this post with a little self-indulgent “pocket talk”. If you read this blog yesterday, you will be aware that I was confident enough to back Vardif in the Prix La Rochette. Having highlighted the fact that Kenzel was going to act as a pacemaker for the favourite and that this race had the chance of becoming a sprint, it seemed obvious that there would be a need to interrupt that rhythm from the riders of Komorebi and Vardif. It seemed obvious, but it still happened. Kenzel controlled the pace, with Enzo Corallo looking around to see where Nighttime was and ensuring the race setup for Christopher Head’s charge. Nighttime got the first run and despite running better final furlong splits, neither Komorebi nor Vardif could get on terms. Alas, that happens, especially in France and I’m keen not to criticise jockeys who do a very difficult job, at risk to themselves as this week has shown and in the heat of battle, there isn’t a sectional timing clock to aid them. However, whilst Nighttime remains unbeaten, he has once again had a race to suit and I am confident that eventually, I will be able to get him beaten.

Right, that’s the rant over. Let’s move on to the focus of this post, the performance of Green Spirit, who extended her unbeaten run to 4 as she won the Group 2 Prix D’Aumale. This wasn’t a great renewal of this race, both Narissa (2nd) and Clea Chope (3rd) were behind Green Spirit at Deauville in August and neither of them looked like getting any closer. I began the week by reviewing the performance of Ozone at Lyon Parilly and having initially come into this month thinking that the 2-year-old Fillies were a confusing bunch, there are now at least a couple of names to focus on in the Group 1 races next month. Ozone looks to be the longer term project who will be better next year, but Green Spirit is the “here and now” filly for the Wertheimer’s and whilst we can pick holes in this form and question how it may compare to the better Fillies in the UK and Ireland, there is no doubting that she was the best horse in this race.

Settled behind the early pace, she had to be woken up by Maxime Guyon as the field came out of the flash straight, but once asked to go about her business, she quickened readily and she was the only horse to run a sub 11-second furlong when she recorded 10.94s for the penultimate split. A top speed of 66.2 km/h at that point was another race best and having been 0.44s faster than any of the other 4 runners in the final 600m, she is the only horse to take out of this. The reality is that we don’t yet know how good she could be as a juvenile. She has beaten the same horses twice in pattern company and given the way that she finished her race on Thursday, there is every reason to think that she will improve again when she meets better opposition. A winning time of 1:39.95 was the fastest winning time in this race since 2019 and it does have the likes of Zarigana and Blue Rose Cen amongst its recent winners. However, if we take Green Spirit out of this race, there isn’t a great deal of depth and on reflection, she was a good horse running in a below average race on Thursday.

The Wertheimer team have a decent bunch of 2-year-olds this season and at this stage, Green Spirit has certainly achieved the most. However, I still like Ozone as a prospect and it wouldn’t surprise me if she is the higher rated of the pair in 12-months time. Green Spirit has an entry in the Prix Marcel Boussac and that is the obvious target for her next month and it will be fascinating to see if she is capable of taking another step forwards in a deeper race.