The history of Royal Ascot is adorned with the exploits of brilliant French horses, trainers and jockeys but, in recent years, their presence has been scarce.
That, however, is set to change dramatically next week, when the biggest flat meeting of the year is lit up by the biggest challenge across the English Channel this decade and excitement grows over the idea of the awards being annexed. more important.
Before the actual meeting, horsepower I spent a morning galloping at Chantilly collecting the latest intelligence and found hopes rising that a five-year run without a French success at Ascot will come to a spectacular end. These are five horses to follow closely.
The last winner of France’s Royal Ascot was Watch Me in the Coronation Stakes in 2019
BIG ROCK
Coach: Mauricio Guarnieri Aim: Queen Anne Stakes, Tuesday Odd: 8/1
Big Rock’s finest hour came in the straight mile at Ascot when he took the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last October.
He was switched from previous trainer Cristopher Head to his current trainer, Inter Milan fan Guanieri, in April and ran a mediocre race at Newbury last month in the Lockinge Stakes. However, on Wednesday he looked stable at it for a million dollars and big things are expected.
Guanieri says: ‘The problem in Newbury was the stalls. The rider tried to escape first, but the horse put its nose on the stall and then its knees on the ground. A real problem!
“The rider needed a long time to recover, but he pushed 10 meters immediately and that meant the horse had run his race with 200 meters to go.
‘Aurelien Lemaitre is a good jockey and I respect him, but there were no good feelings between him and me. The owner agreed for us to change, so now we have Christophe Soumillion. Champion horse, champion jockey… the perfect combination!
‘I had only been training the horse for 22 days before Newbury. It wasn’t easy to understand everything with him, but since then I have been with him 24 hours a day. We have changed his diet, the training system.
But Big Rock has the mind of a champion. Right now I will tell you that he has improved. He is in very good condition: big, strong and with a lot of power. You can stay on top all year long! All this is a dream for me. Being a star at Royal Ascot is something I can’t explain.”
Big Rock has fond memories of Ascot after winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last October.
METROPOLITAN
Coach: Mario Barati Aim: St James’s Palace Stakes, Tuesday Odd: 10/1
Barati is an emerging force, his star rising thanks to Metropolitan’s 33-1 success at French Guinea 2000 last month. He only has 33 horses in his yard, but the Italian, who was once Marco Botti’s assistant at Newmarket, gets great results and aims to surprise Notable Speech and Rosallion.
Barati says: ‘When you face good horses, you have nothing to lose. Metropolitan will be competing against the two best milers in Europe, but I’m looking forward to seeing what he does.
‘He was very brave at the end of his career at Longchamp. You have to be very lucky to have a horse like this, especially in a small stable like mine. It’s a dream. Some coaches have tried for 40 years to get a Classic winner, I already have one. You have to learn quickly in this job and good horses will teach you a lot of things.’
ZARAKEM
Coach: Jerome Reynier Aim: Prince of Wales Betting, Wednesday Odd: 25/1
Reynier is based in Marseille but his presence is felt around the world. He made everyone sit up and take notice when Factuer Cheval won the £2.2 million Dubai Turf at Meydan in March and sent that horse to the Queen Anne Stakes.
However, one should not underestimate his stablemate when facing Auguste Rodin.
Reynier says: ‘We always liked it. He won five in a row last year. We complemented him to race in the Prix Ganay, after he won on his comeback, but nothing went well that day.
“He got stuck and burned too much gasoline. But he deserves to take advantage of his opportunity in this race. We’ll ride it behind and hope they go fast enough so we can pick up the pieces.
“People say I’m doing well, but I have an incredible team by my side, the success we have is down to all the guys.” There is a great dynamic here and we are improving the quality all the time. We want our horses to show that they can compete against the best in the world.’
RAMATUELLE
Coach: christopher head Aim: Coronation bets, Friday Odd: 7/1
Ramatuelle, a filly with incredible speed and a high-profile co-owner in NBA legend Tony Parker, suffered an agonizing defeat in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket last month.
But Head has nothing but pride in that effort and has been delighted with his stable star’s work over the past four weeks. He is in top shape to take on the best three-year-old females.
Ramatuelle is co-owned by NBA legend Tony Parker, who made his name with the San Antonio Spurs.
Head says: ‘I really loved the Guineas. We are living this work and everyone is very passionate about it. The filly did something incredible that day and that’s the only thing I remember.
‘Of course I watched the race again. She is a very fast filly. She knows everything and I tried to train so that it would be easy for the rider to ride her.
‘The English racing environment is really perfect and every year the aim is to have riders good enough to compete there. The level of competition there is tremendous. We are talking about pure class.
‘The horse that caught my attention the most was Goldikova, the most perfect filly I have ever seen. The Milers are something incredible when they are good: they have charisma and personality.
‘Ramatuelle has something about her, believe me. This will be the race of the year. “It would be fair for her to win a Group One.”
CALANDAGAN
Coach: Francisco-Henri Graffard Aim: King Edward VII Stakes, Friday Odd: 14/1
Graffard was responsible for France’s last Royal Ascot winner Watch Me in the 2019 Coronation Stakes, and his horses are to be feared when traveling with them. He is a multiple winner of the Classic and has made seven entries for next week. Calandagan is not announced but is progressing quickly.
Nemone Routh, racing director for owner The Aga Khan, says: “He is a real mile-and-a-half horse who has grown a lot. He has a great stride and the King Edward will be a wonderful race for him.
‘He used to have problems with the pits last year, but then we neutered him and he’s a lot easier now. I would say he is very relaxed. This will be competitive, but isn’t that what Ascot is all about?