LYCAON DE VAUEZELLE IS A TOP CLASS HURDLER

LYCAON DE VAUEZELLE (42) ran out a five length winner of the AQPS (non-thoroughbred) championship, the Group 2 Prix Leon Olry-Roederer at Auteil. In doing so he clocked a solid Grade 1 time. (By the way can anyone explain why French jumps pattern races are called Group races while Irish and British ones are called Graded?).

Lycaon De Vauzelle has now won three of the four times he's run two and a half miles or more. His sole loss came off a three month break when second to the multiple Group 1 winner El Paso III, who proved he is no back number with a Group 3 win soon after.

It looks like we won't be seeing this smart horse in Britain or Ireland anytime soon (unless someone like J. P McManus steps in to buy him). His big objective is next year's Grand Course des Haies (French Champion Hurdle).

Runner-up L'INTERPRETE (40) showed improved form to finish second ahead of previously Group 1 placed Ennemi D'Etat (40). His jockey said L'Interprete ran more willingly than before. It could be it was the increase in distance that brought about the improvement. In any event, L'Interprete looks a decent proposition for Listed or Group 3 company next time.

Paul Cole's ANDRONIKOS (37) ran out an easy winner of the Prix Saraca, earning a speed rating only three lengths a mile off the best I've awarded a two year old this season. Apart from one below par effort on very testing ground at Doncaster, Andronikos has now shown smart form every time he's run. His trainer has gone on record as saying the horse will stay seven furlongs. On pedigree that seems highly likely. Certainly Andronikos was showing no signs of stopping at the end of a very strongly run six furlongs here. I can see him winning a Guineas Trial early next season.

RISING TALENT (36) earned an unusually fast rating for the winner of a claiming race when scoring at Maisons-Laffitte. This five year old had previously finished second and fourth in Listed company, and still retains that sort of ability according to my ratings. He'd be an interesting proposition in a decent handicap next time. and a good thing if kept to claiming company.

MAIA ERIA WILL BE MISSED

Jump fans don't normally experience the sense of frustration followers of the sport on the level encounter when a top class performer is bundled off to stud at the very time it has just established its class. But they got a good dose of it after MAIA ERIA (42) won the four year old French hurdling championship race, the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier at Auteuil last Sunday.

Maia Eria ended the 11 race unbeaten streak of Cyrlight (34), clocked an incredible time for a four year old, showed terrific acceleration to blast clear by 20 lengths and took her hurdling record up to eight wins (seven of them in Graded events) from 11 runs. Then her owner promptly announced that this was to be her last jumps race. He aims to retire her to stud.

We will see Maia Eria one more time, but that will be on the flat in an attempt to gain some all-important black type for the sales catalogues to ensure her stud value. Her close third to the useful El Hurano in a good conditions race on the level a few runs back suggests she's up to the task. But her owner summed up what most fans of the game must have felt when he said he regretted that he wouldn't be able to take Maia Eria to Cheltenham in March.

Cyrlight had won a moderate provincial hurdle on his racecourse debut but had been kept to chasing for his previous ten starts. So he did well to run second in such a hot race on switching back to the smaller jumps. He is now to be given a much deserved rest according to his trainer who would not commit to future plans. One can only hope that, unlike Maia Eria, he will travel to Cheltenham, where he'd be a warm fancy in the Catchcart.

It's not often that a claiming chase produces the fastest time of the day at Auteuil. But that's the distinction the sixth race at Auteuil enjoyed the other day thanks to runaway winner MIRAGE DU SIMBEU (34).

Mirage Du Simbeau had blundered at the open ditch when running fourth on his only previous chase start but jumped better this time and looks to have improved for the switch to the bigger jumps. Twice tried in Listed company in his eight hurdles starts (he finished fourth and fifth), I suspect the eagle-eyed UK spotters already have their eyes on this one for their clients back home. He'd certainly be an interesting candidate in a UK novice chase.

MISS ALABAMA (36) ran a decent time for a three year old filly to take a class A Tierce handicap at Saint-Cloud. It looks likely that she improved for the step up to a mile and a half. It may also be that she likes the course, for she has won both times she's run at Saint-Cloud but lost all six starts elsewhere. In any event, this run indicates that Miss Alabama has a decent shot of taking a Listed race against her own sex if she's kept in training.

RASHBAG (36) is another course specialist. . He took his score at Toulouse to three wins from three starts with a victory in fast time in a class C conditions event. Rashbag has now won eight of his eleven starts at provincial tracks in France. But he's getting harder to place at such tracks as his official mark is now 93. Still, he's a Listed winner and Group placed, so I'd be wary of opposing him at provincial tracks, especially Toulouse in future. It's interesting to note that he started at 11-2 here, which is pretty amazing given his record.

MANGUIER A NAME TO REMEMBER

The German filly Beirut looked the one to beat in the Prix Impudence, but it looks like she failed to act on the heavy ground. The race went to STELLA BLUE (35) who has now run progressively faster in all her four starts to date according to my speed ratings.

Trainer Pascal Bary confirmed what my speed ratings said about Stella Blue, telling reporters afterwards; "She acts like a filly who progresses much with each one of her appearances. She adores the ground holding or heavy and if all is well, she will carry out her reappearance in April in the Prix Imprudence."

Stella Blue has yet to prove she is classic class, but she's certainly run fast enough to look like she'll be the horse to beat in the Prix Impudence, especially if the going is soft.

MANGUIER (37) won a chase at Nantes in good style, racking up his seventh victory in his last nine completed starts. Still only four, Manguier looks very promising. His dam's last three foals to race all ended up winning in Britain or Ireland, the last two for Venetia Williams. I dare say there are already some bids in from the big overseas owners for Manguier, especially now that he's proven he can win at longer trips with his latest success.

At Auteuil on Sunday the big race was the Prix la Haye Jousselin, sometimes referred to as the French King George. Turgot (35) won but was very much a sub-par winner according to my speed ratings. The fastest time of the day was that recorded by the 2001 Prix la Haye Jousselin winner EL PASO III (38) in the preceding hurdle.

National hunt horses, especially early-maturing French-breds like El Paso III are supposed to deteriorate at twelve years of age. But nobody seems to have told Bernard Secly's aging star. The old boy has now won the last three times he's encountered the soft ground he needs.

AUSTRALIE (39) won the Group 3 Prix de Flore in very decent time, taking her record on yielding or softer ground to four wins out of five. Her jockey said afterwards that "this is a filly that adores the soft ground". Her trainer was unable to say whether Australie will return to the track next year. If she does she could easily have a great season, given the massive increase in the number of Group races restricted to fillies. It all depends on the weather and how many of this year's exceptional crop of fillies stay in training.

One filly definitely staying in training is runner-up ELOPA (39). This Andreas Schutz-trained filly had strolled home by seventeen lengths at Mulheim on her debut and only went under by half a length here. Elopa has only run on soft ground so far and clearly excels on it, just as her dam's other four foals to race did. However, all of those foals also won on fast ground too (three won on the AW as well), so Elopa looks likely to adapt to quicker conditions. She has quite a family history to live up to since her dam's four other foals to race all won pattern races and included international Group 1 performer Epalo.

CENTIFOLIA (37) once again demonstrated her amazing early speed to win the Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte by a couple of lengths. Her jockey told reporters afterwards "I adore her. She has an enormous heart and killed her adversaries with the pace. She has astonishing speed, and had proven it before. Although the 1.200 meters (6 furlongs) certainly represents the maximum distance for her, she showed that she was much the best."

This was Centifolia's fourth win in five runs. Her sole loss came when she got too excited and went off way too fast. In this race she ran only a tenth of second slower than some of the best older sprinters in a Group 3 on the same card. If she trains on she could easily win several Group races next season as there are so few good sprinters in France, and probably none with her early pace