Prix des Reves D'Or - Vichy

The middle of May marks the start of the "proper" 2-year-old season and the opening meeting of the season at Vichy included the first Listed race for the Juveniles this season. The meeting actually ended under a cloud, as the last 5 races were abandoned after an incident in the 4th race where Fabrice Veron pulled-up his mount in the straight. Hopefully everything is OK with Krungthepmahanakon, but it shouldn't overshadow the earlier races and in particular the performance of Imperial Me Cen, who bounced back to form with a very impressive Listed success for the Devin yard in the Yeguada Centurion colours.

PRIX DES REVES D'OR - JACQUES BOUCHARA

Vichy 14/5/25 - Bon Souple 3,4

2YO Listed Race - 1,000m - €30,000

57.94s - Finishing Speed 104%

A race run at a very strong early pace. Setup by Golden Breeze from stall 2. She had won by 4-lengths on debut at La Teste, but simply did too much in the early stages and faded from the 400m point, eventually finishing 7th, beaten 9-lengths. She started with furlongs of 14.09 and 10.34s at a top speed of 69.5 km/h, which was clearly unsustainable. She is a precocious daughter of Nando Parrado and her connections will surely persist with her at this stage, perhaps finding a race around a bend to give her a better chance of getting home.

Imperial Me Cen bounced right back to his debut form. Raced in rear, which clearly helped, but he traveled so strongly and when asked to, he readily picked up the leaders to win going away under a hard hold. Very hard to explain his defeat at Chantilly last time on this evidence, but a strong pace suits, as will 6-furlongs. He’s a half-brother to Queen of Bermuda (William Haggas) and will surely have more pattern races in his future, possibly the Prix du Bois Longines at Chantilly next month.

Hold My Hand remains a maiden but this was a career best by some distance. Started well and had the pace of Golden Breeze to track, but having been 0.65s faster than the winner over the opening furlong, she did remarkably well to hold on for 2nd and at this pace, the suggestion would surely be that 1,200m, especially around a turn, would really suit. Finishing speed of 60.1 km/h for the final furlong (Imperial Me Cen 63.5 km/h), but having raced much closer to the pace, that is easily forgiven. Black-Type achieved, she is likely to find more opportunities at this level and won’t bump into horses of the winner’s calibre every time, especially in Fillies only races.

Pink Roche has earned some Black-type and having been an unlucky 2nd at Salon-de-Provence on debut, she has taken a big step forward. Finishing her race in 33.36s for the last 600m (only Imperial Me Cen was faster), she should win a race sooner or later, especially when we consider that she raced widest of all.

Lady D’Armor and Nyoka have run well, but had their limitations exposed at this point and neither had the pace to challenge in the last 2-furlongs. Minotor won the Prix du Premier Pas at Lyon, but that came on ground described as “Collant” and he has struggled on quicker ground on his next 2 starts. Visually, he is a big, rounded son of Goken, but his Dam stayed a mile (a Galileo mare) and all of the winners in his family, most notably The Good Man, have preferred softer ground. They added the cheekpieces here, which seemed unnecessary. He will need to wait for the rain, but there are races to be won with him and he shouldn’t be written off, even if he is perhaps below this level.