Prixdelahorse Tracker - Woot Woot

It’s probably a little bit strange to be adding a horse that has just won a Group 3 to the tracker, but I really liked the performance from Woot Woot in the Prix du Calvados at Deauville. She was given a much more aggressive ride by Christophe Soumillon, who sent her forwards when the gates opened and from that point onwards, she barely saw a rival. Eventually running out a 3.5 length winner, she recorded a reasonable winning time after being allowed to dictate entirely at her own pace in front. This was in complete contrast to her previous start in the Prix Six Perfections, where she was ridden towards the rear after dropping in from a higher draw. Going around the bend at Chantilly probably didn’t suit this long striding daughter of Wootton Bassett, especially over the 1,400m trip where the bend comes up within the first 2 furlongs. Sunday certainly saw a much more polished display from Christopher Head’s charge, who took almost a second out of the runner-up in the opening furlong, a gap that only began to close inside the final furlong. I will give some column inches to the 2nd placed Le Bon Tempts Route, who only won her maiden 8 days earlier. She finished well for Mickael Barzalona and Francis-Henri Graffard and certainly acquitted herself well on her first try at the level. However, she was no match for the winner and she has a lot to find if she is going to close the 3 length gap between them.

Woot Woot is a daughter of Penny Lane (Lord of England), a Listed winner over a mile for Francis Henri Graffard in 2016. A full-sister to Padishakh (Varian, O’Meara), there are 7 “Black Type” winners in her immediate pedigree. Having cost €250,000 as a yearling at Arqana in 2024, she is already well on the way to repaying the faith shown by that investment and I think the switch to front running tactics is going to bring out a lot more improvement. She holds entries in both the Arqana Series Criterium D’Automne and the Prix Marcel Boussac at the start of October and has surely booked her ticket to Arc weekend with this performance. There is no doubt that the Fillies with form in the UK have achieved more at this stage. Señorita Bonita and Victorious have proven themselves at the highest level and Woot Woot will need to find some significant improvement to be competitive if those horses turn up in Paris in October. However, if there was to be a “best of the French” category for the 2-year-old fillies, I think Woot Woot would now have to be in those conversations.