There is really only one place to start with Tuesday's Auteuil preview and that is with the feature race, the G2 Prix The Fellow, which is due off at 2:05 UK time. The field is headed up Kolokico. If that name sounds familiar, it could be because he won the G1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure back in May, or, if you're an avid follower of this blog, it could because I wrote a piece about how promising he looked when winning at Pau back in January. I jest of course and this race is about much more than my self-congratulation, with both the 2nd (Kador des Ciergues) 3rd (Koriste) and 4th (Kaadam) able to reoppose him here on better terms. At the weights I would prefer the chances of Koriste, but I can't really persuade myself that this is a betting race as all of their connections are likely to have bigger targets in mind later in the autumn. As a small side note, I will also be watching Sissi du Mesnil. If she can translate her hurdles form to fences, she could play a major hand here, but that is a big if as her jumping can leave a lot to be desired at times. Recent winners of this race include Figuero (2019), Le Berry (2020) and Diamond Carl (2022) and I will have one eye on this race with a view to next seasons Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.
We begin with a Listed Quinte handicap hurdle at 12:55. There are a couple of unexposed types towards the bottom of the weights, most notably Hugo Merienne's Parfum D'une Reine, who is pitched in at the deep end on handicap debut, but with only one division of this race, I can't help but think the horses at the top of the weights are likely to dominate. Kaline Roque was a winner here back in April, but her official rating of 63-kilos is not as tempting as the 61.5-kilos that Kiss Langy can run off here. She was a Listed winner over fences here in June and she is rated 5-kilos higher over fences. Her hurdles form is a little bit more open to question, but it should be noted that she ran in some very hot company back in the Spring and with the benefit of more experience, she should be a better proposition now. This isn't the deepest Quinte handicap that I have seen and with €49,500 to the winner, it is a fair assumption to assume that she will be ready to go after a break. If she is anything bigger than 5/1, she would rate as a solid bet for me.
The 3YO claimers are a bit of a mixed bag, but I mentioned on twitter that the entry of Messy in the 2nd race is interesting. He had some smart hurdles form in the Spring and with an official rating of 65-kilos, he might appeal to British owners looking for a handicap hurdler for 2025 as he would be able to run in handicaps off a mark of 130. His 4th placed finish behind Sauvignon in the Listed Prix Stanley in June is a very good piece of form and if he runs to that level he will walk this. For what it's worth, I think the horse needs abreak after a 6-month spell that has taken in several good races and 9 starts. Having tried chasing a fortnight ago (unsuccessfully), this could be perceived as his connections drawing stumps and offering him for €32,000 to see what happens. However, there is an idea in my head that he is fairly handicapped and may be worth chancing if he runs well, for all that he isn't likely to be a betting proposition here.
The Listed Prix Violon II Chase at 3:15 features Le Lude, who I highlighted after a promising prep run for this over hurdles at Lyon 3-weeks ago. I was keen to be with him next time, but he appears to have landed in a very deep race where it could be argued that the entire 12-runner field has been in good form for most of 2024. As a result, I will leave that race and wait for the last to have a small each-way play. This is a much weaker division of the handicap chase and assuming that Iceberg du Large can get round, I'll be quite disappointed if he can't be involved in the closing stages. He has only won 2 of his 24 starts so far, but most of his form over the chase course at Auteuil has come in deeper races than this, including some fair efforts in Listed chases back in the Spring. The drop in class on the back of a promising win over hurdles at Clairefontaine at the beginning of the month makes him one of the more interesting horses on the card.
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