20 March 2021
Photo scoopdyga.com
Saturday, March 20, 2021, Auteuil Racecourse (Paris). - The young hurdlers usually meet again for the first time at 4 in the d’Indy 4yo Hurdle (Gr3). One would expect many runners from the Cambacérès 3yo Hurdle (Gr1), over four months later, to take part. The conditions of the race, however, are not meant to favour them. Only one contender challenged the 7lbs weight penalty for a Gr3 winner: Hermès Baie (Crillon), who fell at 15/2 in the Cambaceres, 132 days earlier. Owned by Mrs Patrick Papot, trained by François Nicolle, he was kept close to the front-runner Margaret’s Legacy (Prince Gibraltar) by his rider Bertrand Lestrade, and finally stood his ground, holding off the favourite Haut les Cœurs (Saddler Maker), another AQPS who had come by in the last bend. They fought each other quite some time before the winner finally took over for good, but only a length separated them at the end of their struggle, while Jeu de Paume (Wootton Bassett) just kept the 3rd place over Lolly Flight (Creachadoir)… 20 lengths behind!
Hermès Baie is an AQPS bred by André-Jean Belloir in the Manche. His dam Ludmika (Murmure) won twice AQPS flat races at Loudéac and Landivisiau in Brittany at 4. She went to stud after three races only and gave since 13 foals, 8 by Crillon, like Hermès Baie, who is way above the rest, even if two winners had preceded him, but not at such a high level.