VAN GOGH GOES 25/1 FOR GUINEAS

Ian Heitman focuses on the action at home and abroad as the Flat season winds up

- Ian Heitman

The ground proved to be very testing in the final few weeks of the Flat season with most meetings taking place on soft or heavy ground, Newbury’s Horris Hill meeting at the end of October, in particular, looked very hard work for some inexperienced two-year-olds.

GROUP/LISTED RACES

The final Group 1 races of the year in Europe were held at Doncaster and Saint-Cloud in France on October 24.

The Criterium International over 7f at Saint-Cloud was the first of the three Group 1 races and it attracted six runners, two from the UK, one from Ireland and three from France. The foreign raiders dominated the market with Jadoomi bidding for back to back wins in France following his easy win at Longchamp on Arc weekend. La Barrosa, a narrow but comfortable winner at Newmarket in Group 3 company on his previous start, was second in the market for Charlie Appleby, while Van Gogh, fast-finishing second in the Autumn Stakes, was third favourite for Aidan O’Brien.

Van Gogh ran out an impressive four-length winner, held up in the early part of the race, he made progress with two and a half furlongs to go, taking the lead from Normandy Bridge a furlong and a half from the finish, staying on strongly on the heavy ground to win easily from Normandy Bridge who held on second, a neck in front of Jadoomi who had every chance. La Barrosa travelled well but failed to pick up on the heavy ground and wasn’t knocked about by James Doyle, last of the six runners.