PRIX DE GUICHE - Hawk Mountain

PRIX DE GUICHE

Chantilly - 4th May 2026 - “Bon Souple 3,3”

3YO G3 - 1,800m - €36,600

1:52.20 (Réduction KM 1:02.23)

A race that really appeared to revolve around HAWK MOUNTAIN and despite a couple of awkward moments around the bend, he ultimately delivered the goods for Aidan O’Brien under Christophe Soumillon. He was a G1 winner in the Futurity at Doncaster and so may well have been expected to prove to be better than this field, especially on level weights. Once in front, Christophe Soumillon was able to control the pace around the turn and despite showing signs of greenness when swinging wide off the bend and having to be driven to keep him in a straight line, he ultimately pulled out more in the final furlong to win by over a length. The cheekpieces were added for this race, but with such a sedate pace around the turn, it is hard to be overly sure what effect they may have had. For a brief moment, it looked as if the runner-up was coming to challenge him in the penultimate furlong, but Hawk Mountain went again when he got to his quarters and his final furlong split of 11.34s was a race best figure (McLloyd data). He ran a similar race to Montreal last week, but given the way that Hawk Mountain finished his race, he would appear to be the Ballydoyle number one for the Prix du Jockey Club now, perhaps with the former as his pacemaker.

LORD CLOVER gave Christophe Soumillon his 4,000th winner earlier in the season, but he has held his form ever since and shaped like a horse who is still improving for Francis-Henri Graffard. A very patient ride by Clement Lecouevre, especially in a small field, gave him a lot to do and he did well to mount any sort of challenge having conceded ground to the winner. His time of 11.05s for the penultimate furlong at 64.8 km/h was a race best figure and he has readily passed the 3rd and 4th placed horses. He had to work hard to get on terms and so a defeat of a length and a quarter is an admirable result given the way the race panned out, even though the winner was clearly finishing the stronger. Getting the better of Campacite (3rd) and Mr Lope Cen (4th) is a solid effort, even if we must allow for the fact that neither of them are likely to compete at G1 level this term.

I will add a small note for PARADE BAY (5th). He finished tailed off on what was just his 2nd career start, but he jumped the path in the back straight and never appeared to fully regain his action. He won on debut at Saint-Cloud in November and hadn’t been seen since, so a PMU SP of 6.3 should be seen as a sign that he was at least thought capable of competing. I have drawn a line through this run given what happened in the back straight and it will be interesting to see what he does next time, which should give us a better guide to his level of ability.

This race has quite an illustrious role of honour. Vadeni, Almanzor, Big Rock and last year Cualificar. It can produce a top class horse and Hawk Mountain has more than thrown his hat into the ring for the Prix du Jockey Club in what looks to be a very open year. He will need to corner better and there is always the worry of getting a wide draw at Chantilly, but he has carried his form from last season into this and shaped like an improver. Lord Clover may well be slightly short of what’s required at G1 level, but he ran a good race given how much ground he was asked to try and make up and this does look to be one of the stronger trials we have seen so far.