Here at Sport Preview, we pay attention to detail, and we give as much focus to a maiden hurdle on a wet Wednesday at Clonmel as we do to a Group 1 at Ascot. With that in mind we will be publishing a weekly review of the weekends action to highlight some exceptional performances that you may not have seen. Here are this week’s horses that went “under the radar”.
WEST END GIRL – Prix Avranchin – 4YO Chase – Compiegne 8th March – Finished 1st
16 of the last 20-runners sent out by Francois Nicolle have finished in the placings, which shows how well the master trainers’ yard have their horses running, so we should perhaps not be surprised by the performance put in by WEST END GIRL on her Chase debut. A winner of a Listed hurdle at Auteuil in September, she is the daughter of Zutera, who won both her starts over fences and looks to have passed on her chasing ability to her daughter. Having tracked the leader, she took up the running at the 2nd last and powered away from Impressive (Macaire and De Lageneste) who was not able to go with her in the closing stages. The final circuit time was well below the course average and given the way she jumped and galloped on up the Compiegne hill, she looks to be a very exciting 4-year-old chaser to follow in 2022.
LASSAUT – 3YO C&G Maiden – Chantilly 9th March – Finished 1st
A grandson of Prix Morny 2nd Family One, LASSAUT is certainly bred to be fairly precocious and after making a nice debut when 3rd in a newcomer’s maiden at Deauville, this was a very impressive performance to land this maiden. Jean-Claude Rouget has been keen to recruit the progeny of Almanzor and on the evidence of this race, he could have an above average colt on his hands. Having missed the break, Simon Planque had to roust him along to get in touch, but once they turned for home, he brought him wide to make his challenge and from the 2-furlong pole there was only ever 1 winner. He ran the final 2-furlongs in 11.09s and 10.82s, easily the fastest closing sectionals on the day and with so much more to learn, he can only improve.
