"Why is it worth watching the racing in the French Provinces when you can't have a bet on it?" I get asked that question a lot. The first answer is that my passion for French Racing is about much more than landing a punt. The second and perhaps more important answer is that you get to spot very talented horses before anybody else does and that brings me nicely on to Saly D'Oroux. If you're a follower of some of my social media, you will probably have spotted a couple of posts about this horse already. She was an impressive winner of a 3-year-old hurdle at Royan back in August, but since then she has taken her form to an entirely different level.
She is trained by a master of his craft and that is a clear plus for a filly like this. Arnaud Chaille-Chaille is no stranger to sending horses to Royan for their debut, with the G2 winning Toscana du Berlais the most recent example, but having demolished a field that included subsequent winners Elektrix and Ziskakan by 7-lengths, she made a very good impression on her first trip to the track. She went on to win at Moulins 3-weeks later, running another good time figure, but Thursdays win at Compiegne was something else entirely. Having settled in rear under Cathy Joubert, she traveled as strongly as ever and despite the rise in class, she was moving perfectly within herself as they rounded the home turn. However, having been forced to make her challenge down the centre of the track, which is never ideal at Compiegne, she was carried left by the wayward jumping Loup de Mer.
At this point, having been carried across to the far rail, I would certainly have forgiven her if she had failed to hit the frame, but she was quickly galvanized by Joubert and she ran on strongly to win by over 3-lengths in the end. As you can see from the time figures below, she has matched the speed of the older horses over the same course and distance and although we must acknowledge that she was receiving weight from the 2nd placed Raffles Dolce Vita, he brought some solid form from the Spring season into this race and sets a fair standard. As a rough estimate, I'd suggest that she has run to a mark in the region of 64-kilos (128 UK) to win here and had she had a clearly run in the home straight, she would probably have won by a wider margin.
The Chaille-Chaille team have been in consistent form for the last 2 months and it is also important to note that Cathy Joubert is exceptional value for her claim and the pair have struck up a very good partnership in their 3 outings together. However, this is a very talented filly and you'd have to assume that there is more to come, for all that it should be noted that she is a relatively compact type. Her connections really have no choice now, she will need to go into pattern company in search of some "all-important" black-type, but it is certainly possible that she will continue to improve and I won't be in a rush to take her on if she does appear in a pattern race at Auteuil in the next few weeks.
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