Vichy 14th May

How did yesterday go? Well as always seems to be the way, the small token bets ran beautifully whereas the more serious selections disappointed. The good news was that my form study nailed the Quinte handicap at Saint-Cloud, with the 12/1 winner Riyabovka and the 3rd placed Alabama Moon at 8/1. However, whilst General Chop ran a perfectly respectable race to finish 2nd in the 2YO Claimer, giving a soft lead to the favourite in the process I might add, there was no real excuse for Carisha who ran poorly in the 3YO contest. On to Vichy, where we have a 9-race card that includes the first Listed race of the season for the 2-year-olds.

The Prix Des Reves D’Or gets us underway and whilst the entire field is open to any amount of improvement, I find it hard to get way from Golden Breeze. She is a Nando Parrado filly who was really impressive on debut at La Teste in March. She won by 4-lengths and the form has been boosted since by both the 2nd and 4th who have subsequently won races. She broke well and showed plenty of speed, clocking 10.90 and 10.92s for furlongs 3 and 4. Subsequently bought by Alain Jathiere, she looks to be the most exciting 2-year-old Filly that we have seen so far this season and I’ll stick with her until the form book proves otherwise.

Following on from the Listed opener, we have a 3YO maiden over a mile. The market has this right in my opinion, with Wit and Dark Summit looking like the pair to concentrate on. Wit finished 2nd on debut in a PSF maiden at Chantilly and given the form of the Graffard team with their 3-year-olds in 2025, he is not easily opposed. However, he had every chance at Chantilly, but looked one paced in the straight on debut, running the final 3-furlongs in 35.40s, which actually ranked him 6th of the 10-runners. Vichy is generally a speed track, especially on the forecast fast ground, so I much prefer the chances of Dark Summit. He’s finished 4th on both starts to date in the North, but he was beaten less than 2-lengths by the subsequent Class 2 winner Daryz on debut at Paris Longchamp and was in front with a furlong to go before tiring at Chantilly last time. That run came over 2,000m and the drop back to the mile looks sure to suit. If he is going to win, I’d almost expect him to make all and I think he will have too much speed for his main rival.

The handicaps for the older horses don’t make too much appeal, but the final race for the 3-year-olds did lead me to look at an interesting horse. Viento de Levante is a Le Havre Filly. She makes her handicap debut here on the back of some solid runs in maiden company. She finished 2nd at Argentan on her latest start. The winner has been sold subsequently, but the 3rd has won since and the evidence would suggest that this 12-furlong trip is ideal. Beaten a Neck in a sprint finish, she closed in 11.18 and 11.30s with a top speed shown at 64.6 km/h, which should be far too quick for most of her rivals. From a very workable opening mark of 34-kilos, she makes a lot of appeal as an each-way bet.