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News In Brief of French Racing and Trotting - 17th March 2021.
This week's news-in-brief includes Flavien Prat's six-timer at Santa Anita, the retirement of Feliciano and Mathieu Mottier's successful day at Graignes...
Flavien Prat
French-born Flavien Prat completed a six-timer at Santa Anita on 12 March, the first jockey to do so since 1987. The twenty-eight-year old has flourished since transferring to America in 2015, earning more than three million dollars in prize money. He achieved a milestone 1000 winners in February and has been leading rider at the Santa Anita Winter/Spring meeting twice.
Shalaa
Haras de Bouquetot's Shalaa is set to have his first runner in the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in Australia following Shaquero's victory in the G2 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m) on 13 March. Shaquero was purchased for 160,000 AU$ at Magic Millions Gold Coast as a yearling and is the third winner out of Fimatino. Shalaa's yearlings have been achieving five times the stud fee in Australia. The Golden Slipper is the world's richest race for two-year-olds.
Feliciano
Multiple Group winner Feliciano has been retired from racing to focus on his stud career. The son of Ready Cash won twelve races over four years and will join Haras de Retz full-time. His best career performance came in the 2019 G1 Prix de l'Étoile (2200m), where he won with a kilometre rating of 1'10"2, beating Falcao de Laurma and Estola.
Copenhagen Cup
The Group One Copenhagen Cup (2000m), held at Charlottenlund Racecourse in Denmark, has been reduced to Group Two status for the 2021 European Trotting calendar. To meet the standards required by the UET, a Group One event must offer a minimum of one million Swedish kronor or 750,000 Danish kroner.
Arqana Trot
The Arqana Trot mixed Spring sale will take place on Thursday 25 March and 89 lots will be offered. Two notable lots from the horses-in-training section are G3 Prix de Rome (2150m) winner Heart of Gold and the beautifully bred Irish Melody, by Ready Cash and out of G2 Prix Gelinotte (2700m) heroine Be My Girl.
Mathieu Mottier
Mathieu Mottier had a successful day at Graignes on Sunday 14 March, starting with placings in the first three races on the card. He added three victories to his tally (Gold d'Alba, Gipsy and Havana de la Roque), which puts him nine wins ahead of Eric Raffin in the l'Etrier d'Or standings. Mottier requires two more victories to achieve a milestone 1000 wins.