Le Touquet 10/07/10

Racing at Le Touquet was on Saturday evening, but in the spirit of wasting time and money, the meet was at Gatwick on Thursday morning, in order to take in the Europa League 1^st Qualifying Round, 2 Leg tie between F91 Dudelange and Randers FC in Luxembourg. Final score 2-1 to the Dudes, but as the Randy ones were 6-1 ahead from the first leg, it was all academic. An entertaining (and hot!) game nonetheless. We jumped on the Friday morning train for Paris, Randers looked forward to an away game in Slovenia a week later.

As for Le Touquet, it is about 60km from Calais, less than half that from Boulogne, and anyone travelling on foot can has a choice of trains from Calais – direct or change at Boulogne. The nearest station is Etaples, on the north bank of La Canche. The racecourse is over the river and a 45 minute walk from the station, but quite well signposted – when in doubt follow the signs to the airport, as the track itself is at the end of the runway. There was some sort of celebratory event supposed to be going on at the airport, but as the place was shrouded in fog in the morning, and the cloud level was no more than a hundred metres or so all afternoon, that was grounded. It is quite eerie hearing planes buzz around sounding as if they are about to fall on your head, yet never actually seeing them.

On the south side of the river, Le Touquet has plenty of hotel choice (Etaples less choice but cheaper), and a giant beach. There is a scenic walk along the coast, and down along the river on what is referred to as Les Dunes Des Loups, although there sadly appear to be no wolves actually there. By following this past the sailing club, we cut through a camp site, over a show jumping arena, round the back of the rifle range and north of the dog obedience school, we found ourselves somehow in the track without having paid to get in (saving 5 Euros). With runners from Germany and Belgium present, foreign accents were presumably expected to be walking the course.  

The big hedge above and the fences going away from the stands - it is a very sharp turn as the markers are those for the straight, and the field turns into the section no more than thirty yards after the water jump.

In advance, France-Galop’s legendarily semi-reliable website had promised three flat races and four chases. In fact, there were four on the flat, a steeplechase and two cross-country chases. There does not appear to be any hurdle racing, although the last two obstacles in all jump races are hurdle sized. In other respects it is par for the course in France, with an erratic figure of eight layout, multiple bends and a water jump in front of the stands. There are post and rail type fences used in the standard chases, the cross-country events differentiated only by using banks as well, but the trickiest fence comes to the left of the stands, a big hedge with quite a drop on the landing side. Given the amount being crammed into a small area, there are inevitably plenty of very tight turns.

Going: Dry and fast

Race 1: Prix Geny.com 5 & 6 year olds Chase [2m 3.5f]

1: Quantz     2: Quaty Des Planches     3: Ray Of Light

Winner owned & trained: Xavier-Louis Le Stang, ridden: Arnold Cisel

A fairly uneventful race run at a steady pace, which was decided by Quantz having by far the best turn of foot in home straight – as you would have expected for a horse that won a flat race last July, and managed to be placed in a chase on his latest run. Quaty Des Planches has won a cross country chase at the course, but as noted above, this track does not have that great of a difference between the two types of chasing, so the form probably translates between the two here quite well.  

The runners jump the water going one way past the stands (top) but the opposite direction is used for the finish (below) 

The first shot has Quaty Des Planches just edging Qonqerant, from Regente De L'Isle, Quantz, a hidden Ray Of Light and a never happy Qanope. The second has the first three home, in the finishing order.

Race 2: Prix Saint Pol Sur Ternoise 2 year old Maiden [7f]

1: Kajsa Kavat     2: You Are Not Alone     3: La Bisquine

Winner owned: Investment AB Rustningen, trained: Mrs P Brandt, ridden: Vincent Vion

Nine turned out, with six of them making their racecourse debut, one of whom enjoyed every moment until the time came to enter the stalls, and she had to be withdrawn. The winner had debuted at Saint Cloud, then been fourth at Compiegne after, beaten the same margin over the same course and distance as the runner-up. Kajsa Kavat was the paddock pick as well, and won a touch comfortably, with You Are Not Alone just outstaying La Bisquine for second. The third was the eye catcher before hand amongst the newcomers, but the betting pool seemed to be wise to that viewpoint.

Race 3: Prix Parfumerie Douglas – Boulogne Sur Mer 4 year olds and up fillies, lady amateur riders [1m 3f]

1: La Formia     2: Festivaliere      3: Lana Hill

Winner owned: Mrs Valerie Motheu, trained: F Vermeulen, ridden: Alexandra Rosa

This was the lowest value race on the card, and still paid E4,500 to the winner. It was becoming clear by now that it paid to lead or be up with the pace here, although possibly a horse that could not do that was in need of a career rethink. La Formia led, kicked on in the back straight to have a five length lead, and turned for home travelling best of all on top of that. Never in doubt, and as the rider had won less than five races previously, based on her claim, cue the delirious celebrations. In future, perhaps the rider of Montardon, Marie Artu, will marry a man named Ditou and hyphenate the names. Any course she rode at would be deluged with hundreds of tragic Star Wars fans.

Race 4: Prix Du Casino Barrier – Le Touquet 4 & 5 year olds cross country Chase [2m 4f]

1: Randan Du Chatelet     2: Rosier D’Isigny     3: Sans Nom

Winner owned: Mrs Philippe Chemin, trained: Philippe Chemin, ridden: Christophe Herpin

Randan Du Chatelet had met Resketal in battle in June and won by ¾ length at the same weights as today, and the betting patterns were originally indecisive as to who would come out on tops today. As it happens it finally came down firmly for the winner and Resketal had an off day, ending up fifth. Like the opener, the win went to a horse that was nipping the heels of the leaders on the home turn and then showed a superior pace on the run-in. Rosier D’Isigny had only run over hurdles before and had been off a fraction over twelve months, so this was a pretty reasonable way to open his cross country career, although he only just held Sans Nom at bay. Scipion Cateline has been running at Auteuil this year, including getting a second place in a E50,000 regular chase, but he was hardly all the rage in the betting and ended up sixth. The incident of the day occurred in this. Race Folle made a bad error on landing over the huge hedge, and his rider, the unfortunately named (in English translation at least) Jessy Blandamour, was left clinging on under the horse’s neck. With excellent gymnastic skills he managed to spin round and wind up back in the saddle, earning quite a round of applause. Alas it was premature, and he had no time to recover his irons, and although getting over the water jump slightly awkwardly, the near ninety degree left turn shortly after saw the rider go straight on as Race Folle followed the others off to his left. The rider demonstrated his exasperation for the stand, who were by this stage all big fans!  

Despite trying to avoid "dot on the horizon" type shots, the man waving frantically near the back is indeed Jessy Blandamour. Resketal leads, from stablemate Sans Nom. Then come the Quinton team - La Champlevee, Rosier D'Isigny and Race Folle - followed by Scipion Cateline. The winner is still in the wings of the fence

Race 5: Prix Du President Lambert 3 year olds Maiden [1m 3f]

1: Time Pressure      2: Juvenil Delinquent     3: Rock Of Rio

Winner owned: Rashit Shaykhutdinov, trained: C Laffon-Parias, ridden: Jerome Claudic

Bearing in mind the context of the probably modest talents of the oppo, Time Pressure showed a fairly impressive turn of foot to sprint clear in the straight, although she did take a little time to wind up when asked, possibly not at home trying to quicken on the final bend. Her debut ninth had been at Maisons-Lafitte, so there was a drop in class involved, but runner-up Juvenil Delinquent had been fourth at Longchamp in May (before a bigger defeat at Compiegne, where so many of the runners on the card had also washed up). Rock Of Rio is (it is suspected) trained in Germany, and like Zuckerpuppe at Fontainebleau in the Spring, was almost totally ignored in the betting despite three previous thirds giving him some qualifications for getting involved in the shake-up. Fourth placed Mandjari (also fourth on his only other run) did not look to be given an overly hard time of things.

Race 6: Prix Du Scoop Bar Brasserie 4 year olds [1m 3f]

1: Pride Celebreire     2: Augusto     3: Kissavos

Winner owned: Dean Harron, trained: Richard Gibson, ridden: Vincent Vion

This was the fourth of five wins for horse number two on the racecard, and the second for Vincent Vion. Typical, the system appears only when it is too late to use it. Pride Celebreire had at least one win and plenty of places up her sleeve, but she had to work hard for the win and any suspected attitude doubts were not on show this time. Augusto went down with gusto shown, but Kissavos was guilty of tying up a bit sharply. The Tabor entrant, Whispering Rose had been second at Compiegne on debut, but has now been stuffed at Nancy and Le Touquet. Greater things were presumably planned.

Race 7: Prix Jacques Geliot 5 year olds and up cross country Chase [3m 2f]

1: Quenotte Du Mou     2: Miss D’Anjou     3: Zenax Des Brosses

Winner owned & trained: Philippe Cottin, ridden: David Cottin

With a prize fund of E20,000 this was the big race of the day, and it served up a cracking finish. Five were still in contention as they approached the final turn, but Quenotte Du Mou, in the ever advantageous close third was travelling much the best. She took the lead between the final two obstacles, but Miss D’Anjou (who had had some problems on the sharper turns) proved a very determined opponent, and she lost very narrowly. The third only gave way after the last obstacle, and like all great races, the trip was dictated to some extent by the need to go around the far end of the rather parched looking rugby pitch. Morondava raced prominently for a long way and looked dangerous four out, but ran out of puff quite quickly.

Quenotte Du Mou makes it a five timer for number two. The horse clearly enjoyed it.