A Deserving Win by Flintshire

July 13, 2013; the evening mood was set right with the thrilling run at Longchamp, Juddmonte Grand Prix De Paris. The 12 Furlong or 2400 meters race witnessed the graceful run of Maxime Guyon aboard Flintshire. Bearing the colors of sponsor Khalid Abdullah, the Bay colt sired by Dansili and trained by Fabre Andre won on a margin of 1 ½ lengths.

Running in 6th position at the start, Flintshire was seen to pace throughout the race and finally push away effortlessly in the last stretch after the turn. Following close behind initially was Manndawi, grey colt jockeyed by Lemaira Christophe but Flintshire took charge and swept across winning the race by quite a length. Ocovango, a brown colt sired by Monsun and Jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot kept his pace throughout the race but struggled for space from the start eventually placing third in the race.

Grand Prix De Paris initially created by the former governing body of France the Societe d’Encouragement was more of a display event of three-year-old home bred race horses against ‘out side’s’ or international runners. Established in the year 1863, the inaugural race of 3,000 meters was won by a British colt – The Ranger.  Then being France’s richest and most elaborated and awaited event the prize money was 100,000 francs raised by the Duc de Morny.

Being canceled over a period of time due to the Franco- Prussian War in 1871 and later throughout World War 1, this event finally established itself as a 2,000 meters group 1 race in 1987 and was sponsored by Louis Vuitton between 1988-1992. It finally found its place as the Juddmonte Grand Prix De Paris in the year 2011 with the commencement of the Juddmonte Farms sponsorship.  Later in 2005, the length was revised to 2400 meters by France Galop and stands the same till present day. France Galop a major body of horse racing in France also manages other race courses like Auteuil Racecourse, Deauville Racecourse, Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse, and Saint –Cloud Racecourse, not to forget of my hometown racecourse - the Chantilly Racecourse.

Juddmonte Farms owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sponsoring Flintshire this year saw his fourth win of the title from the year 2000, when Beat Hallow, jockeyed by Richard Quinn had won the title. Later in 2006, 2007 and 2013 Rail Link, Zambezi Sun and Flintshire respectively won the title for him.

Generally held on Bastille Day (14th July), this year it was held on the 13th since the following day was a Sunday. I was more than ready to see my favorite win, however a little disappointed by my grey colt - Manndawi. Well, nevertheless Flintshire deserved every bit of the win, with the magnificent run!