Vadeni – the star who could save French racing
Prix du Jockey Club winner is favourite for the Coral-eclipse at Sandown today as he looks to step up on the world stage
It is a good while since France produced a world-beating three-yearold colt but on the back of a five-length victory in the Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, at Chantilly last month, the Aga Khan’s Vadeni arrives at Sandown today a warm favourite for the Coral-eclipse and poised to end the drought.
It is ironic that despite prizemoney several leagues above Britain, France has had a dearth of world-class three-year-old colts lately. Sottsass (rated 123), who added to his French Derby win in 2019 with victory in the Prix de l’arc de Triomphe as a four-yearold, was good but he was beatable, winning only six of his 12 races, and you have to go back to Almanzor (129) in 2016 for the last truly worldclass colt to represent the French Classic generation.
Like Vadeni and Sottsass, and also trained by Jean-claude Rouget, Almanzor won the Prix du Jockey Club, and he added the Irish and British Champion Stakes to his tally in 2016. That year’s Irish Champion, in which he beat the subsequent Arc winner Found, was arguably the best field assembled for the race.
If you take France’s own premier race, the Arc, as a guide, the French have won it with three-year-old fillies Zarkava and Treve but their last three-year-old colt to score was Rail Link in 2006.
Of course, winning the Arc with a three-year-old colt is the exception rather than the rule but, since Rail Link, Britain has won it with Workforce and Golden Horn and Ireland with Sea The Stars. So, while French jumpers have come to dominate over here, their Flat horses have been less dominant at home.
This reflects the fact that in France there is not quite the concentration of owner-breeders there is in Britain and Ireland, courtesy of the Maktoums and Coolmore. Consequently, France does not have the same depth in terms of stallions and broodmares. The French have Siyouni – a leading sire owned by the Aga Khan – but another, Le Havre, died this year, while the
moment Wootton Bassett sired Almanzor, Coolmore got out its cheque book.
When Galileo died last winter, with Dubawi, Sea The Stars, Frankel and Kingman all stepping up to the plate to pick up the slack, the British and Irish breeding industry hardly blinked. When Wootton Bassett departed Normandy for the lush pastures of Tipperary, it left a gaping hole.
The French, of course, still have access to these great stallions and the Aga Khan sent Vadeni’s dam to Coolmore’s great miler Churchill, which is why, ultimately, he may not follow Rail Link in winning an Arc because there is a doubt about his stamina for a mile and a half.
It is not a done deal yet. Vadeni has to back up his visually impressive French Derby win today and that will be against battle-hardened Group One winners Mishriff, Lord North and the improved Alenquer.
Bay Bridge never quite got a shot at State Of Rest in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes so he has his own question to answer here at Group One level. They all have to give Vadeni 10lb, so it may be that his biggest threat comes from last year’s champion two-year-old colt and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Native Trail.
In the centenary of the Aga Khan Studs, it would be fitting were Vadeni to prove himself a champion in a race not won by a French horse since 1960, a year after the present
Aga’s father, Prince Aly Khan, won with Saint Crespin. A better statistic for Vadeni is that last year’s Prix du Jockey Club winner St Mark’s Basilica followed up here.
“It is exciting and we certainly liked his performance in the French Derby when he impressed us with his turn of foot,” said Georges Rimaud, the Aga Khan’s racing manager. “Facing the older horses is probably a task but it’s an interesting one and we look forward to it.
“We’ll be better informed on Saturday evening as to what he’s capable of in terms of an autumn campaign. This is why we wanted to go to Sandown, it is the only race available over this distance in a good time from the Prix du Jockey Club.”