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”.
Irish Chanel – 4YO Hurdle – Auteuil 28th February – Race Void
A winner at Pau back in February, IRISH CHANEL has made a good start to her hurdles career and was very unlucky not to have doubled her tally last Monday at Auteuil. Having travelled strongly through the contest, she had readily picked up the long-time leader as they turned for home and had the race in the bag jumping the 2nd last when the siren sounded. There were 2 loose horses running back down the home straight, so there was no question that the stewards made the right call, but the key is to understand the form and the fact that nothing will change in terms of marks or weights in future as the race was voided. Given the fact that Irish Chanel had the race won and a decent field well beaten off by the time they turned in, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for her at Auteuil in the coming weeks, especially as she is AQPS qualified.
Starlet du Mesnil – 5YO+ Grade 3 Chase – Auteuil 28th February – Finished 2nd
She was highly progressive in 2021, especially once she went chasing in the autumn and so a lot was expected of STARLET DU MESNIL when she made her reappearance at Auteuil last Monday in the Prix Robert De Clermont-Tonnerre. Sent off as 7/4 favourite in the international markets, her backers would have been relatively pleased at the end of the first circuit as she raced in the vanguard. A bad error at the big ditch in the back straight checked her momentum, but she quickly recovered and was going best of all as they turned for home. Taking up the lead between the final 2 fences, she looked likely to clear away on the run-in, but a lack of a recent run appeared to take its toll and she was caught in the final strides by her stablemate Happy Monarch. Her stablemate brings some solid form into this race, having won the Grade 3 Grand Prix de Pau back in January and given that he had fitness on his side, it was perhaps not a surprise that he got the better of her on the run to the line. With the benefit of this run, she should be able to reverse that form and with her mares’ allowance, looks to be a horse to follow in the top-level chases at Auteuil this Spring.
