€80,000 Gr. II Prix Caecilia at Vincennes

Tonight’s Paris–Vincennes featured Gr. II Prix Caecilia (purse €80,000, 2700 meters, 10 starters) resulted in a competitive contest taken by 3.4/1 Carat Williams (4m Prodigious-Miss Williams) clocked in 1.14kr. David Thomain was the pilot of this Sebastien Guarato trainee. 8/1 Caduceus des Baux (4g Mark Speed-Festina des Baux) held gamely to be second for Matthieu Abrivard and breeder/owner Jack Dowie with 7/10 favorite Cap Matyss (4m Love You-Elevage Marjea) capturing the third spot for driver J-M Bazire, trainer Franck Leblanc and Elevage Marjea.

The monte Prix Perseux (purse €80,000, 2700 meters, 13 European starters) went to the quick trotting 2.7/1 second choice Virgious du Maza (7g Prodigious-Pocket Edition) with Damien Bonne in the irons. The Sebastien Ernault trainee is owned by breeder Ecurie du Maza and was clocked in 1.12.8kr. 5.2/1 Ulka des Champs (8f Offshore Dream-Melissa des Champs) was second for Eric Raffin, ahead of 7/2 Ugo On Wood (8g Nuage Noir-Medone On Wood) with Leo Abrivard up. 2.4/1 favorite Tess de Villeneuve was fourth for Yoann Lebourgeois.

The Gr. III monte Prix Dido (purse €60,000, 2200 meters, seven starters all three year-olds) went to 1.14.1kr timed and 2.6/1 odds Deesse d’Arquenay (3f Okapi de Fael-Manon d’Angis) with Matthieu Abrivard aboard. 7.5/1 Drole de Gosse (3m Gazouillis-Peir Bleue) held second along the pegs for Franck Nivard and owner/breeder/trainer Pascal Barthelemy. 4/5 favorite Dominator Blond (3m Kenor de Cosse-Orchidee Blonde) was third ridden by Eric Raffin.

June 8 action moves to Laval that hosts the Gr. III Grand National du Trot Paris-Turf (purse €90,000, 2850 meters distance handicap, 18 starters). Early favorite is Vanille du Dollar that is not handicapped and will have Matthieu Abrivard aboard. This Sylvain Roger trainee faces tough competition with the 25 meter handicapped group including Belina Josselyn (J-M Bazire up), Sthieric (Franck Ouvrie) and Athos des Elfes (Joel Van Eeckhaute). The 50 meter handicapped batch is even tougher with three winners of over one-million euro in the pack that has at the start Tiego d’Etang (Ch. Bigeon), Texas Charm (Jean-Philippe Dubois), Uhlan du Val (Cedrik Megissier) and Best Of Jets (J-M Baudouin). Be there for this top-level event in the GNT series.

Thomas H. Hicks