Arc favourite Look De Vega heads a glittering cast at ParisLongchamp – and co-trainer Yann Lerner says he is ready to do his job against market rival Sosie
With three races over course and distance taking place three weeks before the big day, it is perhaps inevitable they will always be called ‘trials’.
But rest assured, the G1 Prix Vermeille, the G2 Prix Niel and G2 Prix Foy – all to be run at Longchamp on Sunday [Sept 15] – will never be just dress rehearsals, no matter how big their target, the Qatar-sponsored Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp on October 6.
There is too much riding on these races, reputation-wise, for them to be dismissed as such. Admittedly, trainers will have left something in the locker for the run up to Europe’s most prestigious all-aged contest, but with ample reserves of foundation fitness, horses usually produce reliable pointers. The cream always rises.
Unbeaten Arc favourite Look De Vega reappears in the Prix Niel, having taken the traditional French mid-season break after his decisive win in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) at Chantilly in June.
He is likely to be opposed by Grand Prix de Paris winner Sosie and the Epsom Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly, the latter needing to be supplemented.
Yann Lerner, who trains Look De Vega with his father Carlos at Maisons-Laffitte, is optimistic. “His last piece of work was very nice and I think he will do his job on Sunday,” he says.
“He’s very easy to ride, he’s already won at Longchamp, so he knows the track, and I don’t think the distance will be a problem.”
Regular rider Ronan Thomas will again be aboard for his first attempt at a mile and a half. Look De Vega’s grand-dam Larceny is a half-sister to another Prix du Jockey Club winner in Lawman and was one of Lady Chryssy O’Reilly’s broodmare band.
Lerner reports the colt was a stunner when he appeared at the Arqana August Sale in Deauville two years ago. “He’s a horse with a very impressive physique,” he says. “He looked amazing at the sales, and when you see a nice horse like that, you try to get him.”
It wasn’t long before the father-son training duo saw those looks also revealing a serious galloping talent. “From the beginning, he showed a lot of ability,” says Lerner. “He found his work very easy. Every time we asked something of him, he responded very well. His first time galloping on turf was very good.”
From a seven-length win in the provinces as a late two-year-old, Look De Vega bounded up the charts, taking in a conditions race at Longchamp as a stepping stone to Classic glory at Chantilly.
Old-timers might suggest that’s an unconventional route – but not these days after seeing last year’s Arc winner Ace Impact not make his debut until a small race on the Polytrack at Cagnes-sur-Mer in January of his three-year-old season.
Ominously for the opposition, Lerner says of his colt: “He looks much stronger than he did at the start of the season.”
Prescott protégé aims to emulate the master
Looking at the honour roll for the Prix Vermeille, you realise what a travesty it is to refer to this race for fillies and mares as an Arc trial.
This is a a standalone, a proper G1 won by some truly exceptional equine females, several qualifying as greats – particularly those who went on to further glory three weeks later.
In the past 50 years, a trio of three-year-old fillies – note we are focussing on those of the Classic generation – have completed the Vermeille-Arc double in the same year: Three Troikas (1979), Zarkava (2008) and Treve (2013).
With better luck on her side in 1980, Robert Sangster’s Detroit might well have joined that trio but she was blocked for a run in the closing stages of the Prix Vermeille and despite Pat Eddery’s efforts, finished third to Mrs Penny. Detroit made no mistake in the Arc.
Trainer Christophe Ferland is well aware of the rich history of both races. Ferland purchased an old Wildenstein yard at Chantilly from Pia Brandt and has been based there for over a year now after moving his stable from La Teste in the south-west of France, where he had enjoyed great success.
He trains for many owners, including the Wertheimer brothers, who have entrusted him with 40 horses. Ferland knows the yard well, having worked 10 years there for another previous occupant Richard Gibson before the latter moved to Hong Kong.
Among the Wertheimer collection is a three-year-old filly Aventure, a daughter of the 2009 Arc winner Sea The Stars. Her record is an impressive three wins and two seconds, as well as a fourth in the Prix de Diane, from six starts.
Aventure first came on the radar when she hacked up by seven lengths in the G3 Prix de Royaumont, over a mile and a half at Chantilly on heavy ground in June. More recently, she recorded a narrow win in the G2 Prix de Pomone, over 2,500 metres (approximately 100 yards more than a mile and a half) in soft going at Deauville.
Ferland is pleased with what he is seeing at home. “She has done well since Deauville,” he says.
“She had a break in June, then she was back in training in July and had only a couple of weeks back before running at Deauville. She has progressed well since and will be in top form on Sunday.
“She’s a very, very easy filly to deal with,” the trainer adds. “She’s very focussed on her work. She’s never been any trouble. She’s very easy. It’s a piece of cake to train horses like her.”
Aventure performed pretty well at Deauville. The only three-year-old in the field, she looked diminutive against some of the older brigade, yet she bravely battled to scrape home in front after her fitness gave out 100 yards from the line.
Her trainer says: “She’s not an imposing filly – her family are not big horses. Her mother was small. I would say Aventure is not that small but she’s not big either and she has a lot of quality.”
As for the opposition, Ferland expects a good line-up of top fillies and mares in the Vermeille. “It will be a good, strong field,” he says. “Our filly has won a G3, a G2 and now goes for a G1. Hopefully, everything will go well. But we are not the only ones, she is not running on her own!”
Christophe Ferland knows British racing well. He started with Lambourn trainer Charlie Mann and finished his UK stint with two years at Sir Mark Prescott’s stable in Newmarket, where he says he learnt a lot.
“Sir Mark was tough with me, but in a good way.” he recalls. “He taught me a lot. Detail; it’s all about detail. The most important thing he teaches is how to look at a horse. How to analyse the characteristics of the horse – and the form.”
Prescott and his young protégé met again at the Arc two years ago when Prescott enjoyed his finest hour as a trainer, saddling Alpinista to triumph on a memorable day. Ferland shook his former boss’s hand in congratulations as they stood in the winner’s enclosure.
Now he hopes that this year it will be his turn. Aventure is currently a 33-1 longshot with British bookmakers. However, that price will be slashed if she wins the Prix Vermeille, which she just might at her present rate of progression.
Aventure bids to become the eighth three-year-old filly in five decades to win the Arc following Three Troikas (1979), Detroit (1980), Akiyda (1982), Zarkava (2008), Danedream (2011), Treve (2013) and Enable (2017).
That’s a very elite group indeed.
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