Grand Prix de Paris (Group 1)

THE Bastille Day holiday was a hectic one in France last weekend, with good stories coming at us from all angles: top horses winning, candidates for the autumn championship races emerging, Gerald Mosse, the supreme stylist, retiring from the saddle after over 40 years of artistry, and Chantilly staging a Group 2 juvenile contest utterly devoid of local representation.

Overall, the picture looks rosy for the French racing industry, as Sosie’s fine victory in last Saturday evening’s Grand Prix de Paris was the eighth home win from nine domestic Group 1s staged so far this term.

Sosie looks well capable of adding to his top-level tally and, lo and behold, Sunday even saw the unveiling of a French two-year-old with the potential to see off the invading hordes later in the season in the shape of Zarkava’s granddaughter, Zarigana.

Sosie improved markedly for the step up to a mile and a half on a magnificent evening for his owner-breeders, the Wertheimer brothers, at ParisLongchamp on Saturday.

The third leg of a four-timer for them, the Irish-bred son of Sea The Stars allayed doubts that a downpour two hours before the race would blunt his ability, and crossed the line a comfortable two lengths ahead of Aidan O’Brien’s Illinois with a further neck back to Delius in third.

Slow pace

Both of the place-getters were unsuited by the slow pace – the Queen’s Vase victor Illinois had already proved that he stays further and showed a commendable attitude to hang on for second here having looked to be going backwards at one stage in the home straight, while Delius tried to come from last place – yet it would be a big surprise if either were to reverse placings with the winner anytime soon.

The successful trainer, Andre Fabre, is now €1 million clear as a bids for a scarcely believable 31st training title, while the Wertheimers’ racing manager, Pierre Yves Bureau, said of Sosie: “He’s a colt that we’ve always held in the highest regard. When he was third in the Prix du Jockey Club he had trouble getting through, which might have cost him a place, but it was only his fourth race and he still needed to mature.

“He’s a massive horse with a giant stride and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is the obvious race for him. The initial thought is that we might go there via the Prix Niel.”

The other big Wertheimer triumph saw last year’s Prix Royal-Oak winner Double Major bounce back for a first success since that October glory when, aided by a return to front-running tactics, he turned the tables on his old rival Shembala to land the mile and six furlong Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil by a length.

Trainer Christophe Ferland suggested afterwards that the Group 1 Goodwood Cup is now under consideration for Double Major, who appreciates some cut in the ground.

The evening’s other Group 2, the Prix de Malleret, witnessed a comprehensive victory for the Prix de Diane runner-up Survie, though the time was fully eight seconds slower than the Grand Prix de Paris so her ability to last a strongly-run mile and a half is still in question.

A Nicolas Clement-trained daughter of Churchill bred in Ireland by her owner, Gerard Augustin-Normand, Survie has September’s Prix Vermeille next on her agenda.

SUNDAY’S Chantilly highlight, the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin over six furlongs, saw the favourite, Arabie, register a hard-fought three-quarters of a length verdict ahead of Shadow Army with four more British raiders chasing them home.

The son of Dandy Man who also plundered the Group 3 Prix du Bois, trainer Karl Burke reported afterwards that Arabie will likely make a third French foray in next month’s Group 1 Prix Morny.

“His home work suggests that he is improving all the time but he only ever does what is required,” Burke relayed. “I was a bit worried when he broke a step slow but I actually expected him to come under pressure a bit earlier than he did as he’s so lazy.”

Mosse moves on

Mosse, who has already bought a yard in Chantilly and expects to have his first runners as a trainer in just a couple of months, trailed home last but one on his final ride in the big mile and one furlong handicap but must have been touched by the warmth and affection on display as his weighing room colleagues bade him farewell.

It would not have been lost on the shrewd 57-year-old that the day he hung up his boots may also be remembered as the moment that one of his former employers, the Aga Khan, unearthed a possible star in the shape of the runaway seen furlongs Prix de la Butte Blanche victrix Zarigana, a home-bred daughter of Siyouni.