Prix du Jockey Club (Group 1)

MUCH of what came to pass at Chantilly last Sunday, just as it had been at Epsom on Saturday, was spookily reminiscent of 12 months earlier.

Whereas, in Britain, Aidan O’Brien again turned the base metal of the 2000 Guineas into Derby gold, this time with City Of Troy rather than Auguste Rodin, in northern France an unbeaten, unheralded colt, by the name of Look De Vega but in the image of Ace Impact, proved much too strong for his Prix du Jockey Club rivals.

The chances of Look De Vega emulating Ace Impact and proving himself to be the pick of the pair of Derby heroes come season’s end are not particularly strong. But that’s not to denigrate the Chantilly victor, a physically imposing colt of limitless potential who has raced only three times in his life.

It’s just that City Of Troy landed the Derby in such style that he looks like a real titan of the turf, this triumph adding to his outstanding juvenile exploits and leaving Look De Vega with plenty of catching up to do.

Hasty conclusions

Anyone endeavouring to draw hasty conclusions about the quality of this year’s Jockey Club should bear a couple of facts in mind.

One is that, contrary to the frankly preposterous ‘heavy’ label that it was given in some quarters, the going, while testing, was a long way from extreme and probably equated to ‘soft’ by Irish standards.

The other was probably just a statistical quirk, but it was slightly unsettling that the first four home exited from stalls 3, 4, 1 and 2 respectively.

Look De Vega, who local punters had backed in to 5/1 second favourite, raced in the vanguard throughout as the market leader, Fast Tracker, set a none too demanding pace while racing with enough exuberance to make his rapid backpedalling in the last quarter mile little surprise. Look De Vega was in front passing the furlong and a half from home marker and soon had enough of a lead to make defeat unlikely.

His eventual margin of victory was two lengths, ahead of the Andre Fabre-trained pair of First Look and Sosie, themselves separated by a neck.

Ghostwriter, the best of the three overseas challengers, had trouble finding a clear passage early in the home straight, but kept going well enough from his handy early position to cross the line in fourth, just as he had done a month earlier in the 2000 Guineas.

He was a length and a half behind Sosie, while Mondo Man produced the best finishing sectionals of the entire field to storm down the outside and grab fifth, a neck behind Ghostwriter and the same distance ahead of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains third Alcantor.

Sunway suffered some traffic problems and kept going well late to be close behind in seventh, while Aidan O’Brien’s prominent racer Diego Velazquez was one of the first to come under pressure but did plug on well enough to be beaten by less than five lengths in eighth, reproducing his Poulains running with Alcantor almost exactly.

Ballylinch Stud

The result was a notable triumph for the Co Kilkenny nursery of Ballylinch Stud, as its stallion Lope De Vega, himself successful in this very race in 2010, was responsible for the first two home, something that had not been achieved in France’s premier three-year-old race since 1941.

Now 17 years old, Lope De Vega continues to justify his €125,000 covering fee, which is exactly 10 times what he cost when his first runners hit the track a decade ago.

Even more so, victory represented a massive moment for the father-and-son training partnership of Carlos and Yann Lerner, for the unfashionable central Paris training centre of Maisons-Laffitte, where their 75-strong string is housed, and for their 46-year-old stable jockey, Ronan Thomas, whose journeyman career had previously featured a single moment of Group 1 glory, when In Swoop landed the Deutsches Derby four years ago.

First top level victory

The Lerners were notching the very first top level victory of their official association of 11 years standing, though Carlos had also landed this prize once before, with his only previous runner in the race, Anabaa Blue, who had been led up by a 15-year-old Yann when winning it in 2001.

Look De Vega came into the race with a mere two starts under his belt, both in relatively humble company, but his short starting price tells the story of how big his reputation had become despite never having been pitted against high class opposition.

As Lerner senior explained after the race: “I did not want to run him last year but Yann insisted and was proved right when he won by a wide margin at Fontainebleau in November, a performance that immediately had us dreaming of the Jockey Club.

“My only real worry today was his need to break fast from his low draw, once I saw him get out well and sitting handy, I have rarely watched a race in such a serene state of mind.”

His son continued: “Look De Vega suffered a little strain back in February which meant that we had to work him really hard to get him ready for today, or more specifically for his comeback race at ParisLongchamp last month.

“We haven’t done a lot with him since then, other than bring him here for a little gallop to get him used to the course.”

No specific plans

“All options are open for him and he is entered in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe but there are no specific plans, we will decide quietly, when the time comes. He’s won on soft ground today but I don’t think that he’s ground-dependent. We worked him on good going and he quickened up brilliantly.”

The Lerners own a 30% share in their stable star, and one of the other owners, Lucien Urano of Ecurie des Charmes, is hoping to complete a classic double in a week’s time with Gala Real, a leading candidate for the Prix de Diane.

One of his partners in that Wootton Bassett filly is hoping to complete a spectacular sporting double of his own: the man in question is Carlo Ancelotti, manager of last Saturday’s Champions League winners, Real Madrid, hence the name.

ONE of Gala Real’s Diane rivals could be Sparkling Plenty, a Patrice Cottier-trained Kingman filly who could be asked to make a quick reappearance there, having strode away in the closing stages of Sunday’s Group 2 Prix de Sandringham for a three-length victory. That was over a mile, but she should relish a step up in trip.

The most impressive winner of the weekend was the Christophe Ferland-trained Adventure in the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont over a mile and a half. The Wertheimer and Frere-owned daughter of Sea The Stars put seven lengths between herself and second placed Vigatata and looks a Group 1 winner in the making.

Fabre one-two

Andre Fabre may have had to settle for the places in the Jockey Club, but three-quarters of an hour earlier his representatives were on the top two steps of the podium following the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly.

Junko and Marquisat fought out a terrific finish, separated by the minimum margin of a nose, with a length and a quarter back to the British hope, Dubai Honour, in third. The Fabre pair are likely to cross swords again in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud at the end of the month.

The day’s final Group 2, the five-furlong Prix du Gros-Chene, witnessed a comfortable front-running success for the Czech raider, Ponntos, an Irish-bred son of Power who looks better than ever at the age of six and may now be destined for a second crack at Goodwood’s King George Stakes.