James Crispe
AUTEUIL SATURDAY
3:15 Prix Alain du Breil - Course de Haies d’Ete des Quatre Ans (Hurdle) (Grade 1) (4yo) 2m3½f
Willie Mullins saddles three of the 10 runners in Saturday’s Grade 1 and it would be no surprise if the Irish champion were to take home the lion’s share of the €250,000 on offer.
Successful twice in the last five runnings of this race, including with the mighty Footpad, his three hopes ran against each other in the Four-Year-Old Champion Hurdle at Punchestown, Mr Adjudicator finishing second with Saglawy three and a half lengths back in third and Msassa two lengths further adrift.
The home defence centres around the battle-hardened Guillaume Macaire-trained pair Tunis and Master Dino who both already have 12 hurdle starts under their belts. They have met six times with Tunis prevailing on all but one occasion.
SELECTION: Mr Adjudicator
NEXT BEST: Saglawy
AUTEUIL SUNDAY
3:15 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (Chase) (Grade 1) (5yo+) 3m6f
THE €820,000 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at Auteuil tomorrow, France’s most prestigious jumps contest, is a 24-carat blockbuster of a race this year.
All of France’s top chasers are part of the 14-strong line-up for this three and three-quarter mile affair, and an extra element of intrigue is added to an already fascinating event by the presence in the field of Willie Mullins’ perennial bridesmaid, Djakadam.
Although a dual John Durkan Memorial Chase winner, this Saint Des Saints gelding is best known for having finished runner-up in no less than seven Grade 1 chases, including two Cheltenham Gold Cups.
Having run in so many marquee races, it seems hard to believe that he is only nine years of age, though that still makes him the joint oldest member of this field. Djakadam proved that he still has a ton of ability when beaten three-quarters of a length by Bellshill in last month’s Punchestown Gold Cup but he has not run at Auteuil before and it remains to be seen how he will handle the venue’s variety of obstacles.
So French has won this race for the past two years but has suffered the worst build-up of the leading contenders - five straight defeats since his 2017 triumph - and now James Reveley, who partners the exciting youngster, On The Go, instead, has been replaced in the saddle by Betrand Lestrade.
Milord Thomas, the 2015 Grand Steeple hero, races in the same Magalen Bryant silks as So French. Winner of three consecutive renewals of the autumn championship chase, the Grade 1 Prix La Haye Jousselin, he did very well to beat all except Bipolaire after experiencing an injury-blighted preparation when going for the four-timer in that event in November, and has posted three solid efforts since then.
Bipolaire, fifth in this 12 months ago, is again among Milord Thomas’s opponents as is Perfect Impulse, who beat him into second (with Bipolaire a further place behind) in the Grade 2 Prix Murat here six weeks ago.
Trained near Bordeaux by Arnaud Chaille-Chaille, Perfect Impulse looks a stronger mare than she was when chasing home So French in last year’s Grand Steeple and, with only 10 chases under her belt, is still improving.
The other big player is the five-year-old, Edward d’Argent, winner of the Grade 3 Prix Ingre last time out but now literally asked to go the extra mile of this extreme stamina test.
SELECTION: Perfect Impulse
NEXT BEST: Edward d’Argent
3:55 Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil (Hurdle) (Grade 1) (5yo+) 3m1½f
The €350,000 championship race for staying hurdlers, has been moved forward three weeks to bolster the Grand Steeple card.
Willie Mullins has won this three mile and one and a half furlong event four times and has declared four for this renewal, but it is the British who have dominated in recent years and last season’s scorer, the Nicky Henderson-trained L’Ami Serge, is back to try and make it four straight victories for cross-Channel raiders.
L’Ami Serge bounced back to his best at Aintree last month and now that Daryl Jacob has got to know this son of King’s Theatre, who ideally needs holding up for a late challenge, he should prove mighty hard to beat.
The other overseas raiders do not look of the same calibre. Bapaume was a fine second in the Prix Alain du Breil here last June but has not run to that level since, while Coquin Mans ran poorly at Punchestown and is making a radical jump up in trip, so the best of the Closutton quartet could be the two former top class chasers, Yorkhill and Killultagh Vic.
Neither ran that well at Punchestown but Killultagh Vic would probably have landed the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February if the final fence hadn’t got in the way. A repeat of that form would see him go close.
Francois Nicolle trains the pick of the home team yet it is hard to be sure which of his two leading contenders, Alex De Larredya and De Bon Coeur, will fare best.
De Bon Coeur had won all 10 of her completed jump starts until she went down by three-quarters of a length to Alex De Larredya in last month’s Grade 2 Prix Leon Rambaud and Sunday’s extra half mile is not sure to suit, so her stablemate, runner-up in this race in 2017, could again just prevail between the pair.
SELECTION: L’Ami Serge
NEXT BEST: Alex De Larredya
2:35 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure (Chase) (Grade 1) (4yo) 2m6f
The other Grade 1 tomorrow, for four-year-old chasers, should see the coronation of the Guillaume Macaire-trained Whetstone.
This half-brother to both dual Grand Steeple hero, So French, and the 11-time graded hurdle scorer, Device (who takes on Willie Mullins’ Polidam in the Prix Marechal Foch, a two and three-quarter mile amateur riders chase which opens this card) has won his last eight races, including his only four chases.
SELECTION: Whetstone
NEXT BEXT: Spanish One