Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte History: Moving fast forward
Photo scoopdyga.com
October, Chantilly
CRITÉRIUM DE MAISONS-LAFFITTE
Group 2, 2-year-olds, 1,200m/6f, €190,000
Created in 1867
Last winner: Sky Majesty (f2, IRE by Bluepoint ex Majestica Alexander, by Bushranger), owned by Tony Bloom, Ian McAleavy, bred by Mountarmstrong Stud, trained by William Haggas, ridden by Christophe Soumillon.
Record-time: 1’10’’0 at Maisons-Laffitte, by Hello Youmzain (2018). Course-record at Chantilly: 1’7’8.
The race will be run in 2025 for the 126th time
The 2024 edition
Chantilly, France – October 12, 2024 – Six 2-year-olds lined up for Saturday’s €190,000 Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte (Gr2) over 6 furlongs at Chantilly, the championship race for juvenile sprinters in France. Sky Majesty (Blue Point) was the sole foreign entry here. Yet...
Trained by William Haggas for Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy, the filly was making just her third career start, having debuted in late August with a narrow victory at Newbury. She confirmed that form barely four weeks later with a Group 3 score by a neck at Ayr in Scotland.
This time, the visitor won by more than a length after battling a bit to overcome pacesetter Une Pointure (Dabirsim) and then holding off the French favourite Daylight (Earthlight), who had raced alongside her throughout. Christophe Soumillon had swiftly placed his partner, Sky Majesty, in the slipstream of Une Pointure.
This clear verdict establishes Sky Majesty as a potential champion sprinter. Purchased for £150,000 as a yearling by her trainer at Tattersalls, she hails from a family of fast horses, like her dam’s brother, Majestic Missile (Royal Applause), winner of the Prix du Petit Couvert (Gr3). Her dam was Listed-placed.
History
The Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte was created on 23 September 1891, a few weeks after the formal announcement of the law of 2 June authorising racing bodies to organise the pari-mutuel betting system on their racecourses. The eleven starters represented the most famous silks of their day, and the honours went to Idalie in the colours of Vicomte Emmanuel d'Harcourt, who outstripped Maurice de Gheest’s Gesvres by a short head, with Auguste Lupin’s Fanfare half a length behind. The other starters were owned by Edmond Blanc, Maurice Ephrussi, Michel Ephrussi, Henri Delamarre, Comte Gustave de Juigné, Comte Jacques Le Marois, Henri Ridgway and Baron Alphonse de Rothschild.
Originally, the race conditions envisaged overweights, but these were scrapped in the 1960s. Held in mid-September, the Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte served for a long time as a trial for the Grand Critérium, which was run on the second Sunday in October. Open initially to horses "from all countries " – like the majority of the big races created in those days by the Société Sportive d'Encouragement at its Maisons-Laffitte racecourse –, it figured among the main events reserved for 2 year-olds (see Prix Jean Luc Lagardère-Grand Critérium).
Before long, some of the race’s protagonists began to play prominent roles in the Classics. These included winners: Holocauste (1898, Lupin), Val d'Or (1904, Poule d'Essai), Prestige (1905, unbeaten, 16 victories), Northeast (1907, Grand Prix de Paris), Nuage (1909, Grand Prix de Paris), Listman (1913, Poule d'Essai), Ramus (1921, Jockey Club), Epinard (1922, a legendary horse), Apelle (1925, Derby Italiano), Indus (1930, Poule d'Essai), Pensbury (1942, Grand Prix de Paris), Sandjar (1946, Jockey Club), Djeddah (1947, Eclipse Stakes), Fort Napoléon (1949, Jacques Le Marois), Janiari (1955, Vermeille), Bella Paola (1957, Oaks), Sea Bird (1964, Epsom Derby), Gazala (1966, Poule d'Essai, Diane), Pola Bella (1967, Poule d'Essai), L'Emigrant (1982, Poule d'Essai), Whipper (2003, Jacques Le Marois); and also placed horses: Gospodar (3rd in 1893, Jockey Club), Sans Souci II (3rd in 1899, Grand Prix de Paris), Dagor (2nd in 1912, Jockey Club), Samos (2nd in 1934, Arc de Triomphe), Nikellora (3rd in 1944, Diane, Vermeille, Arc de Triomphe), Dictaway (3rd in 1954, Poule d'Essai), Relko (2nd in 1962, Derby d'Epsom), Blabla (2nd in 1964, Diane), Danseur (2nd in 1965, Grand Prix de Paris), Roi Dagobert (2nd in 1966, Lupin), Riverman (2nd in 1971, Poule d'Essai), Red Lord (3rd in 1975, Poule d'Essai), Trempolino (3rd in 1986, Arc de Triomphe), Restless Kara (3rd in 1987, Diane), and Charyn, the 2022 renewal's winner, also winner of the Queen Anne, Le Marois and QE2 two years later.
However, a strong dip in the quality of the participants has been observed since 1981, the year when the Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte was moved from mid-September to late October. The sole exception was Whipper’s success in 2003.
The distance varied between 6 and 7 furlongs up until 2001. The race was not run from 1914 to 1919 or in 1939, 1940 and 1948. Held at Longchamp in 1941, 1942 and 1945, at Tremblay in 1944 (over 7 furlongs) and at Evry in 1995 and 1996 (over 6 ½ furlongs and under the name of the Critérium des 2 Ans), it has been moved from Maisons-Laffitte to Chantilly after the former was shut down in 2019.
It was awarded Group 2 status from the creation of the pattern races in 1971.
Foreign winners
Since 2001, the race was run 22 times. Eleven winners came from either Britain or Ireland, two from Germany, one from Italy and three from Chantilly. The five others were won by horses trained in the Provinces.
Owners
- Marcel Boussac (9 wins): Ramus (1921), Nosca (1941), Sandjar (1946), Djeddah (1947), Pharad (1951), Albanilla (1953), Janiari (1955), Floriana (1958), Perello (1976).
- Edmond Blanc (5 wins): Commandeur (1892), Artisan (1897), French Fox (1903), Val d’Or (1904), Azalée (1908).
- Stavros Niarchos (4 wins): Cresta Rider (1980), L’Emigrant (1982), Procida (1983), Titus Livius (1995).
- Maktoum Al Maktoum (4 wins): Rapide Pied (1984), Lead on Time (1985), Bitooh (1987), Touch of the Blues (1999).
- Emmanuel d’Harcourt (3 wins): Idalie (1891), L’Hérault (1893), Cherbourg (1894).
- William K. Vanderbilt (3 wins): Prestige (1905), Northeast (1907), Montrose II (1911).
Trainers
- François Boutin (9 wins): Speedy Dakota (1974), Crowned Music (1978), Viteric (1979), Cresta Rider (1980), Zino (1981), L’Emigrant (1982), Procida (1983), Corviglia (1988), Ganges (1990).
- Christiane Head (5 wins): Rapide Pied (1984), Bitooh (1987), Septième Ciel (1989), Roi Gironde (1997), Moiava (1998).
- William Duke (4 wins): Prestige (1905), Northeast (1907), Montrose II (1911), Cortland (1920).
- Charles Semblat (4 wins): Nosca (1941), Sandjar (1946), Djeddah (1947), Pharad (1951).
- James Cunnington (3 wins): Idalie (1891), L’Hérault (1893), Cherbourg (1894).
- Robert Denman (3 wins): French Fox (1903), Val d’Or (1904), Azalée (1908).
- Etienne Pollet (3 wins): Soleil Royal (1954), Lebon M L (1961), Sea Bird (1964).
- François Mathet (3 wins): Achaz (1956), Bella Paola (1957), Pola Bella (1967).
- André Fabre (3 wins): Signe Divin (1993), Amiwain (2000), Zinziberine (2002).
- Kevin Ryan (3 wins): Balthazaar’s Gift (2005), Our Jonathan (2009), Hello Youmzain (2018).
Riders
- Christophe Soumillon (5 wins): Zinziberine (2002), Whipper (2003), Captain Marvelous (2006), Kiram (2013), Sky Majesty (2024).
- Freddy Head (4 wins): Rimesault (1968), Rose Laurel (1972), Vallée des Fleurs (1977), Rapide Pied (1984).
- Philippe Paquet (4 wins): Crowned Music (1978), Viteric (1979), Cresta Rider (1980), Zino (1981) ;
- Olivier Peslier (4 wins): Deadly Dudley (1996), Roi Gironde (1997), Amiwain (2000), Malavath (2021).
- Edouard Watkins (3 wins): Champignol (1895), Holocauste (1898) & Butor (1900).
- George Stern (3 wins): Val d’Or (1904), Azalée (1908) & Ramus (1921).
- François Hervé (3 wins): Le Cacique (1932), Alejo (1935) & Tourmente (1945).
- André Rabbe (3 wins): Boucan (1933), Turquoise II (1943), Sandjar (1946).
- Roger Poincelet (3 wins): Djeddah (1947), Fort de France (1952), Lebon M L (1961).
- Yves Saint-Martin (3 wins): Pola Bella (1967), Wittgenstein (1973) & Earth Spirit (1975).
- Cash Asmussen (3 wins): L’Emigrant (1982), Procida (1983) & Titus Livius (1995).
- Thierry Jarnet (3 wins): Signe Divin (1993) et Captain Rio (2001), Sans Équivoque (2016).